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THE CHINESE 
BOY AND GIRL 



The Chinese 
Boy and Girl 



BY 

ISAAC TAYLOR HEADLAND 

OF PEKING UNIVERSITY 

Author of Chinese Mother Goose Rhymes 




Fleming H. Revell Company 

NEW YORK CHICAGO TORONTO 



THE LIBRARY OF 

0ONGRESS, 
Two Copies Received 

NOV. 1 1901 

Copyright entry 
CLASS CL> XXc No. 

% o I 3 Ur- 
copy a, 



Copyright, 1 901 by 

Fleming H. Revell Company 
(September) 



THE CAXTON PRESS 
NEW YORK. 



PREFACE 

No thorough study of Chinese child life can be made until 
the wall of Chinese exclusiveness is broken down and the 
homes of the East are thrown open to the people of the 
West. Glimpses of that life however, are available, suffi- 
cient in number and character to give a fairly good idea of 
what it must be. The playground is by no means always 
hidden, least of all when it is the street. The Chinese 
nurse brings her Chinese rhymes, stories and games into 
the foreigner's home for the amusement of its little ones. 
Chinese kindergarten methods and appliances have no 
superior in their ingenuity and their ability to interest, as 
well as instruct. In the matter of travelling shows and 
jugglers also, no country is better supplied, and these are 
chiefly for the entertainment of the little ones. 

To the careful observer of these different phases it 
becomes apparent that the Chinese child is well supplied 
with methods of exercise and amusement, also that he has 
much in common with the children of other lands. A large 
collection of toys shows many duplicates of those common 
in the West, and from the nursery rhymes of at least two 
out of the eighteen provinces it appears that the Chinese 
nursery is rich in Mother Goose. As a companion to 
the "Chinese Mother Goose," this book seeks to show 
that the same sunlight fills the homes of both East and 
West. If it also leads their far-away mates to look upon 
the Chinese Boy and Girl as real little folk, human like 
themselves, and thus think more kindly of them, its mission 
will have been accomplished. 

5 



CONTENTS 



PAGE 

THE NURSERY AND ITS RHYMES 9 

CHILDREN AND CHILD-LIFE 3} 

GAMES PLAYED BY BOYS 51 

GAMES PLAYED BY GIRLS 79 

THE TOYS CHILDREN PLAY WITH 97 

BLOCK GAMES— KINDERGARTEN 115 

CHILDREN'S SHOWS AND ENTERTAINMENTS . 133 

JUVENILE JUGGLING 147 

STORIES TOLD TO CHILDREN 163 




THE NURSERY AND ITS RHYMES 

It is a mistake to suppose that any one nation or people 
has exclusive right to Mother Goose. She is an omnipres- 
ent old lady. She is Asiatic as well as European or Amer- 
ican. Wherever there are mothers, grandmothers, and 
nurses there are Mother Gooses, — or, shall we say, Mother 
Geese — for I am at a loss as to how to pluralize this old 
dame. She is in India, whence I have rhymes from her, 
of which the following is a sample: 

Heh, my baby! Ho, my baby! 

See the wild, ripe plum, 
And if you'd like to eat a few, 

I'll buy my baby some. 

She is in Japan. She has taught the children there to put 
their fingers together as we do for "This is the church, 



THE CHINESE BOY AND GIRL 



this is the steeple," when she says: 

A bamboo road, 

With a floor-mat siding, 
Children are quarrelling, 

And parents chiding, 

the "children" being represented by the fingers and the 
"parents" by the thumbs. She is in China. I have more 
than 600 rhymes from her Chinese collection. Let me tell 
you how I got them. 

One hot day during my summer vacation, while sitting 
on the veranda of a house among the hills, fifteen miles 
west of Peking, my friend, Mrs. C. H. Fenn, said to me: 

" Have you noticed those rhymes, Mr. Headland ?" 

"What rhymes ? " I inquired. 

"The rhymes Mrs. Yin is repeating to Henry." 

" No, I have not noticed them. Ask her 
to repeat that one again." 

Mrs. Fenn did so, and the old nurse re- 
peated the following rhyme, very much in 
the tone of, " The goblins '11 git you if you 
don't look out." 

He climbed up the candlestick, 

The little mousey brown, 
To steal and eat tallow, 

And he couldn't get down. 
He called for his grandma, 

But his grandma was in town, 
So he doubled up into a wheel, 

And rolled himself down. 
10 




THE NURSERY AND ITS RHYMES 



I asked the nurse to repeat it again, more slowly, and I 
wrote it down together with the translation. 

Now, I think it must be admitted that there is more in 
this rhyme to commend it to the public than there is in 
"Jack and Jill." If when that remarkable young couple 
went for the pai! of water, Master Jack had carried it him- 
self, he would have been entitled to some credit for gal- 
lantry, or if in cracking his crown he had fallen so as to 
prevent Miss Jill from "tumbling," or even in such a way 
as to break her fall and make it easier for her, there would 
have been some reason for the popularity of such a record. 
As it is, there is no way to account for it except the fact 
that it is simple and rhythmic and children like it. This 
rhyme, however, in the 



original, is equal to "Jack 
and Jill" in rhythm and 
rhyme, has as good a story, 
exhibits a more scientific 
tumble, with a less tragic 
result, and contains as good 
a moral as that found in 
"Jack Sprat." 

It is as popular all over 
North China as "Jack and 
Jill " is throughout Great 
Britain and America. Ask 
any Chinese child if he 
knows the " Little Mouse," 
and he reels it off to you as 




11 



THE CHINESE BOY AND GIRL 



readily as an English-speaking child does "Jack and Jill." 
Does he like it ? It is a part of his life. Repeat it to 
him, giving one word incorrectly, and he will resent it 
as strenuously as your little boy or girl would if you said, 



Jack and Jill 
Went down the hill 



Suppose you repeat some familiar rhyme to a child dif- 
ferently from the way he learned it and see what the result 
will be. 

Having obtained this rhyme, I asked Mrs. Yin if she 
knew any more. She smiled and said she knew "lots of 
them." I induced her to tell them to me, promising her 
five hundred cash (about three cents) for every rhyme she 
could give me, good, bad, or indifferent, for I wanted to 
secure all kinds. And I did. Before I was through I had 
rhymes which ranged from the two extremes of the keen- 
est parental affection to those of unrefined filthiness. The 
latter class however came not from the nurses but from 
the children themselves. 

When I had finished with her I had a dozen or more. I 
soon learned these so that I could repeat them in the origi- 
nal, which gave me an entering wedge to the heart of every 
man, woman or child I met. 

One day, as I rode through a broom-corn field on the 
back of a little donkey, my feet almost dragging on the 
ground, I was repeating some of these rhymes, when the 
driver running at my side said: 



THE NURSERY AND ITS RHYMES 



"Ha, you know those children's songs, do you?" 

" Yes, do you know any ? " 
" Lots of them," he answered. 
"Lots of them" is a favorite 
expression with the Chinese. 
" Tell me some." 
" Did you ever hear this one ? " 

" Fire-fly, fire-fly, 
Come from the hill, 
Your father and mother 
Are waiting here still. 
They've brought you some 
sugar, 
Some candy and meat, 
Come quick or I'll give it 
To baby to eat." 

I at once dismounted and wrote it down, and promised 
him five hundred cash apiece for every new one he could 
give me. In this way, going to and from the city, in con- 
versation with old nurses or servants, personal friends, 
teachers, parents or children, or foreign children who had 
been born in China and had learned rhymes from their 
nurses, I continued to gather them during the entire vaca- 
tion, and when autumn came I had more than fifty of the 
most common and consequently the best rhymes known 
in and about Peking. 

A few months after I returned to the city a circular was 
sent around asking for subscriptions to a volume of Pekin- 
ese Folklore, published by Baron Vitali, Interpreter at the 

13 




THE CHINESE BOY AND GIRL 



Italian legation, which, on examination, proved to be exactly 
what I wanted. He had collected about two hundred and 
fifty rhymes, had made a literal — not metrical — translation, 
and had issued them in book form without expurgation. 
Others learned of my collection, and rhymes began to come 
to me from all parts of the empire. Dr. Arthur H. Smith, 
the well-known author of " Chinese Characteristics " gave 
me a collection of more than three hundred made in Shan- 
tung, among which were rhymes similar to those we had 
found in Peking. Still later I received other versions of these 
same rhymes from my little friend, Miss Chalfant, collected 
in a different part of Shantung from that occupied by Dr. 
Smith. I then had no fewer than five versions of 

"This little pig went to market," 




14 



THE NURSERY AND ITS RHYMES 

each having some local coloring not found in the other, 
proving that the fingers and toes furnish children with the 
same entertainment in the Orient as in the Occident, and 
that the rhyme is widely known throughout China. 

These nursery rhymes have never been printed in the 
Chinese language, but like our own Mother Goose before 
the year 17 19, if we may credit the Boston story, they are 
carried in the minds and hearts of the children. Here arose 
the first difficulty we experienced in collecting rhymes — the 
matter of getting them complete. Few are able to repeat 
the whole of the 

" House that Jack built " 

although it has been printed many times and they learned 
it all in their youth. The difficulty is multiplied tenfold in 
China where the rhymes have never been printed, and 
where there have grown up various versions from one 
original which the nurse had, no doubt, partly forgotten, 
but was compelled to complete for the entertainment of the 
child. 

A second difficulty in making such a collection is that of 
getting unobjectionable rhymes. While the Chinese clas- 
sics are among the purest classical books of the world, there 
is yet a large proportion of the people who sully everything 
they take into their hands as well as every thought they take 
into their minds. Thus so many of their rhymes have suf- 
fered. Some have an undertone of reviling. Some speak 
familiarly of subjects which we are not accustomed to 
mention, and others are impure in the extreme. 

15 




THE CHINESE BOY AND GIRL 



A third difficulty in making a collection of Chinese nursery 
lore is greater than either the first or the second, — I refer to 
the difficulty of a metrical rendition of the rhymes. I have 
no doubt my readers can easily find flaws in my translations 
of Chinese Mother Goose Rhymes published during the past 
year. It is much easier for me to find the flaws than the 
remedies. Many of the words used in the original have no 
written character or hieroglyphic to represent them, while 
many others, though having a written form, are, like our 
own slang expressions, not found in the dictionary. 

Now let us turn to a more pleasant feature of this unwrit- 
ten nursery literature. The language is full of good rhymes, 
and all objectionable features can be cut out without injury 
to the rhyme, as it was not a part of the original, but added 
by some more unscrupulous hand. 

Among the nursery rhymes of all countries many refer to 
insects, birds, animals, persons, actions, trades, food or 
children. In Chinese rhymes we have the cricket, cicada, 
spider, snail, firefly, ladybug and butterfly and others. 
Among fowls we have the bat, crow, magpie, cock, hen, 
duck and goose. Of animals, the dog, cow, horse, mule, 
donkey, camel, and mouse, are the favorites. There are 
also rhymes on the snake and frog, and others without 
number on places, things and persons, — men, women and 
children. 

Those who hold that the Chinese do not love their 
children have never consulted their nursery lore. There is 
no language in the world, I venture to believe, which con- 
tains children's songs expressive of more keen and tender 

16 



THE NURSERY AND ITS RHYMES 



affection than some of those sung to children in China. 
When we hear a parent say that his child 



" Is as sweet as sugar and cinnamon too," 



or that 



" Baby is a sweet pill, 
That fills my soul with joy " 

or when we see a father, mother or 
nurse — for nurses sometimes become 
almost as fond of their little charge as 
the parents themselves, — hugging the 
child to their bosoms as they say that 
he is so sweet that "he makes you 
love him till it kills you," we begin to 
appreciate the affection that prompts 
the utterance. 

Another feature of these rhymes is 
the same as that found in the nursery 
songs of all nations, namely, the food 
element. "Jack Sprat," " Little Jacky 
Horner," "Four and Twenty Black- 
birds," "When Good King Arthur 
Ruled the Land," and a host of others will indicate what I 
mean. A little child is a highly developed stomach, and 
anything which tells about something that ministers to the 
appetite and tends to satisfy that aching void, commends 
itself to his literary taste, and hence the popularity of many 

17 




THE CHINESE BOY AND GIRL 

of our nursery rhymes, the only thought of which is about 
something good to eat. Notice the following: 

Look at the white breasted crows overhead. 
My father shot once and ten crows tumbled dead. 
When boiled or when fried they taste very good, 
But skin them, I tell you, there's no better food. 

In imagination I 
can see the reader 
raise his eyebrows 
and mutter, "Do 
the Chinese eat 
crows ? " while at 
the same time he 
has been singing- 
all his life about 
what a "dainty 
dish" "four and 
twenty blackbirds" 
would make for the 
"king," without 
ever raising the 
question as to 
whether blackbirds 
are good eating or not. 

We note another feature of all nursery rhymes in the ad- 
ditions made by the various persons through whose hands, 
— or should we say, through whose mouths they pass. 

18 




m 



THE NURSERY AND ITS RHYMES 



When an American or English child hears how a certain 
benevolent dame found no bone in her cupboard to satisfy 
the cravings of her hungry dog, its feelings of compassion 
are stirred up to ask: "And then what? Didn't she get 
any meat? Did the dog die?" and the nurse is compelled 
to make another verse to satisfy the curiosity of the child 
and bring both the dame and the dog out of the dilemma in 
which they have been left. This is what happened in the 
case of "Old Mother Hubbard" as will readily be seen by 
examining the meter of the various verses. The original 
" Mother Hubbard" consisted of nothing more than the first 
six lines which contain three rhymes. All the other verses 
have but four lines and one rhyme. 

We find the same 
thing in Chinese 
Mother Goose. 
Take the following 
as an example: 



He ate too much, 
That second 
brother, 
And when he had 
eaten 
He beat his 
mother. 




This was the origi- 
nal rhyme. Two 



19 



THE CHINESE BOY AND GIRL 

verses have been added without rhyme, reason, rhythm, 
sense or good taste. They are as follows: 

His mother jumped up on the window-sill, 

But the window had no crack, 
She then looked into the looking-glass, 

But the mirror had no back. 

Then all at once she began to sing, 

But the song it had no end 
And then she played the monkey trick 

And to heaven she did ascend. 

The moral teachings of nursery rhymes are as varied as 
the morals of the people to whom the rhymes belong. The 
" Little Mouse" already given contains both a warning and 
a penalty. The mouse which had climbed up the candle- 
stick to steal tallow was unable to get down. This was 
the penalty for stealing, and indicates to children that if 
they visit the cupboard in their mother's absence and take 
her sweetmeats without her permission, they may suffer as 
the mouse did. To leave the mouse there after he had re- 
peatedly called for that halo-crowned grandmother, who 
refused to come, would have been too much for the child's 
sympathies, and so the mouse doubles himself up into a 
wheel, and rolls to the floor. 

In other rhymes, children are warned against stealing, but 
the penalty threatened is rather an indication of the untruth- 
fulness of the parent or nurse than a promise of reform in 

the child, for they are told that, 

20 




THE NURSERY AND ITS RHYMES 



If you steal a needle 

Or steal a thread, 

A pimple will grow 

Upon your head. 



If you steal a dog 

Or steal a cat, 

A pimple will grow 

Beneath your hat. 



Boys are warned of the dire consequences if they wear 
their hats on the side of their heads or go about with ragged 
coats or slipshod feet. 



If you wear your hat on the side of your head, 
You'll have a lazy wife, 'tis said. 
If a ragged coat or slipshod feet, 
You'll have a wife who loves to eat. 



Those rhymes which manifest the affection of parents for 
children cultivate a like affection in the child. We have in 
the Chinese Mother Goose a rhyme called the Little Orphan, 
which is a most pathetic tale. A little boy tells us that, 



Like a little withered flower, 

That is dying in the earth, 

I was left alone at seven 

By her who gave me birth. 
21 



THE CHINESE BOY AND GIRL 



With my papa I was happy 
But I feared he'd take another, 

But now my papa's married, 
And I have a little brother. 

And he eats good food, 

While 1 eat poor, 
And cry for my mother, 

Whom I'll see no more. 





Such a rhyme cannot but develop the pathetic and sympa- 
thetic instincts of the child, making it more kind and gentle 
to those in distress. 

A girl in one of the rhymes urged by instinct and desire to 
chase a butterfly, gives up the idea of catching it, presuma- 
bly out of a feeling of sympathy for the insect. 

22 



THE NURSERY AND ITS RHYMES 



Unfortunately all their 
rhymes do not have this same 
high moral tone. They indicate 
a total lack of respect for the 
Buddhist priests. This is not 
necessarily against the rhyme 
any more than against the 
priestr but it is an unfortunate 
disposition to cultivate in 
children. There are constant 
sallies at the shaved noddle 
of the priest. They speak of 
his head as a gourd, and they 
class him with the tiger as' a 
beast of prey. 

Some of the rhymes illus- 
trate the disposition of the 
Chinese to nickname every 
one, from the highest official in 
the empire to the meanest beg- 
gar on the street. One of the great men of the present dyn- 
asty, a prime minister and intimate friend of the emperor, 
goes by the name of Humpbacked Liu. Another may be 
Cross-eyed Wang, another Club-footed Chang, another 
Bald-headed Li. Any physical deformity or mental pecu- 
liarity may give him his nickname. Even foreigners suffer 
in reputation from this national bad habit. 

A man whose face is covered with pockmarks is ridi- 
culed by children in the following rhyme, which is only a 

23 














THE CHINESE BOY AND GIRL 

sample of what might be produced on a score of other sub- 
jects: 

Old pockmarked Ma, 

He climbed up a tree, 
A dog barked at him, 

And a man caught his knee, 
Which scared old Poxey 

Until he couldn't see. 

A well-known characteristic of the Chinese is to do things 
opposite to the way in which we do them. We accuse 
them of doing things backwards, but it is we who deserve 
such blame because they antedated us in the doing of them. 
We shake each other's hands, they each shake their own 
hands. We take off our hats as a mark of respect, they 
keep theirs on. We wear black for mourning, they wear 
white. We wear our vests inside, they wear theirs outside. 
A hundred other things more or less familiar to us all, illus- 
trate this rule. In some of their nursery rhymes every- 
thing is said and done on the " cart before the horse " plan. 
This is illustrated by a rhyme in which when the speaker 
heard a disturbance outside his door he discovered it was 
because a "dog had been bitten by a man." Of course, 
he at once rushed to the rescue. He "took up the door 
and he opened his hand." He "snatched up the dog and 
threw him at a brick." The brick bit his hand and he left 
the scene " beating on a horn and blowing on a drum." 

Tongue twisters are as common in Chinese as in English, 
and are equally appreciated by the children. From the na- 

24 



THE NURSERY AND ITS RHYMES 



ture of such rhymes, however, it is impossible to translate 
them into any other language. 

In one of these children's songs, a cake-seller informs the 
public in stentorian tones that his wares will restore sight to 
the blind and that 



They cure the deaf and heal the lame, 
And preserve the teeth of the aged dame. 



They will further cause hair to grow on a bald head and 
give courage to a henpecked husband. A girl who has been 
whipped by her mother mutters to herself how she would 
love and serve a husband if she only had one, even going to 
the extent of calling that much-despised mother-in-law her 
mother, and when overheard by her irate parent and asked 
what she was saying, she answers: 



1 was saying the beans are boiling nice 
And it's just about time to add the rice. 



These are rather an indication of good cheer on the part 
of the children than lack of filial affection. A parent must 
be cruel indeed to make a girl willing to give up her mother 
for a mother-in-law. 

Another style of verses comes under the head of pure non- 
sense rhymes. They are wholly without sense and I am 
not sure they are good nonsense. They are popular, how- 

25 



THE CHINESE BOY AND GIRL 



ever, with the children, and critics may say what they will, 
but the children are the last court of appeal in case of nursery 
rhymes. Let me give one: 

There's a cow on the mountain, the old saying goes, 
On her legs are four feet, on her feet are eight toes. 
Her tail is behind on the end of her back, 
And her head is in front on the end of her neck. 




The Chinese nursery is well provided with rhymes per- 
taining to certain portions of the body. They have rhymes 
to repeat when they play with the five fingers, and others 
when they pull the toes; rhymes when they take hold of 
the knee and expecty the child to refrain from laughing, no 
matter how much its knee is tickled; rhymes which cor- 
respond to all our face andnsense; rhymes where the fore- 
head represents the door and the five senses various other 
things, ending, of course, by tickling the child's neck. 

26 



THE NURSERY AND ITS RHYMES 



All of these have called forth rhymes among Chinese 
children similar to "little pig went to market," "forehead 
bender, eye winker," etc. The parent, or the nurse, taking 
hold of the toes of the child, repeats the following rhyme, 
as much to the amusement of the little Oriental as the 
"little pig" has always been to our own children: 

This little cow eats grass, 
This little cow eats hay, 
This little cow drinks water, 
This little cow runs away, 
This little cow does nothing, 
Except lie down all day. 
We'll whip her. 

And, with that, she playfully pats the little bare foot. 

If it is the hand-that is played with the fingers are taken 

hold of one after 
another, as the 
parent, or nurse, 
repeats the follow- 
ing rhyme: 



This one's old, 
This one's young, 
This one has no 

meat; 
This one's gone 
To buy some hay, 
And this one's on 

the street. 




27 



THE CHINESE BOY AND GIRL 

There are various forms of this rhyme, depending upon 
the place where it is found. The above is the Shantung 
version. In Peking it is as follows: 



A great, big brother, 
And a little brother, 

too, 
A big bell tower, 
And a temple and a 

show, 
And little baby 

wee, wee, 
Always wants to 

go. 

The following 
rhyme explains it- 
self: The nurse 
knocks on the fore- 
head, then touches 
the eye, nose, ear, 
mouth and chin 




successively, as she repeats: 



Knock at the door, 
See a face, 

Smell an odor, 
Hear a voice, 

Eat your dinner, 

Pull your chin, or 
Ke chih, ke chih. 

Tickling the child's neck with the last two expressions. 

28 



THE NURSERY AND ITS RHYMES 



We have in English a rhyme: 

If you be a gentleman, 

As I suppose you be, 
You'll neither laugh nor smile 

With a tickling of your knee. 

I had tried many months to find if there were any finger, 
face or body games other than those already given. Our 
own nurse insisted that she knew of none, but one day I 
noticed her grabbing my little girl's knee, while she was 
saying: 

One grab silver, 

Two grabs gold, 

Three don't laugh, 

And you'll grow old. 

There is no literature in China, not even in the sacred 
books, which is so generally known as their nursery 
rhymes. These are understood and repeated by the edu- 
cated and the illiterate alike; by the children of princes and 
the children of beggars; children in the city and children in 
the country and villages, and they produce like results in 
the minds and hearts of all. The little folks' laugh over the 
Cow, look sober over the Little Orphan, absorb the morals 
taught by the Mouse, and are sung to sleep by the song of 
the Little Snail. 

Sometimes however they, like children in other lands, are 
skeptical as to the reality of the stories told in the songs. 
Thus I remember once hearing our old nurse telling a num- 
ber of stories and singing a number of songs to the little 

ay 



THE CHINESE BOY AND GIRL 



folk in the nursery. They had accepted one after another 
the legends as they rolled off the old woman's tongue, 
without question, but pretty soon she gave them a version 
of a Wind Song which aroused their incredulity. She sang: 

Old grandmother Wind has come from the East. 
She's ridden a donkey — a dear little beast. 
Old mother-in-law Rain has come back again. 
She's come fnom the North on a horse, it is plain. 

Old grandmother Snow is coming you know, 
From the West on a crane — just see how they go. 
And old aunty Lightning has come from the South, 
On a big yellow dog with a bit in his mouth. 

"There is no grandmother Wind, is there, nurse ?" 
"No, of course not, people only call her grandmother 
Wind." 

"Why do they call the other mother-in-law Rain ?" 
"I suppose, because mothers-in-law are often disagree- 
able, just like rainy weather." 

"And why do they speak of snow and the crane, and 
lightning and a yellow dog?" 

"I suppose, because a crane is somewhat the color of 
snow, and a yellow dog swift and the color of lightning." 



30 




M 



# 






- 




,?«, 



ffj 



-' 









& 






CHILDREN AND CHILD-LIFE 



Before going to China, I could not but wonder, when I 
saw a Chinese or Japanese doll, why it was they made such 
unnatural looking things for babies to play with. On reach- 
ing the Orient the whole matter was explained by my first 
sight of a baby. The doll looks like the child! 

Nothing in China is more common than babies. Nothing 
more helpless. Nothing more troublesome. Nothing more 
attractive. Nothing more interesting. 

A Chinese baby is a round-faced little helpless human an- 
imal, whose eyes look like two black marbles over which 
the skin had been stretched, and a slit made on the bias. 
His nose is a little kopje in the centre of his face, above a 
yawning chasm which requires constant filling to insure the 
preservation of law and order. On his shaved head are left 

33 




If ff 



THE CHINESE BOY AND GIRL 



small tufts of hair in various localities, which give him the 
appearance of the plain about Peking, on which the traveler 
sees, here and there, a small clump of trees around a country 
village, a home, or a cemetery; the remainder of the country 

being bare. These tufts 
are usually on the "soft 
spot," in the back of his 
neck, over his ears, or in 
a braid or a ring on the 
side of his head. 

The amount of joy 
brought to a home by 
the birth of a child de- 
pends upon several im- 
portant considerations, 
chief among which are 
its sex, the number and 
sex of those already in the 
family, and the financial 
condition of the home. 

In general the Chinese 
prefer a preponderance 
of boys, but in case the 
family are in good cir- 
cumstances and already 
have several boys, they^ 
are as anxious for a 
girl as parents in any 
other country. 




34 



CHILDREN AND CHILD-LIFE 

The reason for this is deeper than the mere fact of sex. 
It is imbedded in the social life and customs of the people. 
A girl remains at home until she is sixteen or seventeen, 
during which time she is little more than an expense. She 
is then taken to her husband's home and her own family 
have no further control over her life or conduct. She 
loses her identity with her own family, and becomes part 
of that of her husband. This through many years and 
centuries has generated in the popular mind a feeling that 
it is "bad business raising girls for other people," and 
there are not a few parents who would prefer to bring up 
the girl betrothed to their son, rather than bring up their 
own daughter. 

"Selfishness! " some people exclaim when they read such 
things about the Chinese. Yes, it is selfishness; but life 
in China is not like ours — a struggle for luxuries — but a 
struggle, not for bread and rice as many suppose, but for 
cornmeal and cabbage, or something else not more palata- 
ble. This is the life to which most Chinese children are 
born, and parents can scarcely be blamed for preferring 
boys whose hands may help provide for their mouths, to 
girls who are only an expense. 

The presumption is that a Chinese child is born with the 
same general disposition as children in other countries. 
This may perhaps be the case; but either from the treat- 
ment it receives from parents or nurses, or because of the 
disposition it inherits, its nature soon becomes changed, 
and it develops certain characteristics peculiar to the 
Chinese child. It becomes t'ao ch'i. That almost means 

35 



THE CHINESE BOY AND GIRL 

mischievous; it almost means troublesome — a little tartar — 
but it means exactly fao ch'i. 

In this respect almost every Chinese child is a little tyrant. 
Father, mother, uncles, aunts, and grandparents are all made 
to do his bidding. In case any of them seems to be recal- 
citrant, the little dear lies down on his baby back on the 
dusty ground and kicks and screams until the refractory 
parent or nurse has repented and succumbed, when he gets 
up and good-naturedly goes on with his play and allows 
them to go about their business. The child is fao ch'i. 

This disposition is general and not confined to any one 
rank or grade in society, if we may credit the stories that 
come from the palace regarding the present young Emperor 
Kuang Hsu. When a boy he very much preferred foreign 
to Chinese toys, and so the eunuchs stocked the palace 
nursery with all the most wonderful toys the ingenuity and 
mechanical skill of Europe had produced. As he grew 
older the toys became more complicated, being in the form 
of gramophones, graphophones, telephones, phonographs, 
electric lights, electric cars, cuckoo clocks, Swiss watches 
and indeed all the great inventions of modern times. The 
boy was fao ch'i, and the eunuchs say that if he were 
thwarted in any of his undertakings, or denied anything he 
very much desired, he would dash a Swiss watch, or any- 
thing else he might have in his hand, to the floor, breaking 
it into atoms ; and as there was no chance of using the rod 
there was no way but to spoil the child. 

It is amusing to listen to the women in a Chinese home 
when a baby comes. If the child is a boy the parents are 

36 




CHILDREN AND CHILD-LIFE 



congratulated on every hand because of the "great happi- 
ness " that has come to their home. If it is a girl, and there 
are more girls than boys in the family, the old nurse goes 
about as if she had stolen it from somewhere, and when she 
is congratulated, if congratulated she happens to be, she 
says with a sigh and a funereal face, "Only a 'small hap- 
piness' — but that isn't bad." 

When a child is born it 
is considered one year old, 
and its years are reckoned 
not from its birthdays but 
from its New Year's days. 
If it has the good fortune 
to be born the day before 
New Year's day, when it is 
two days old it is reckoned 
two years old, being one 
year old when born and 
two years old on its first 
New Year's day. 

The first great event in a 
child's life occurs when it is 
one month old. It is then 
given its first public recep- 
tion. Its head is shaved 

amid kicking and screaming, its mother is up and around 
where she can receive the congratulations of her friends, 
its grandmother is the honored guest of the occasion, and 
the baby is named. 

37 




THE CHINESE BOY AND GIRL 



All the relatives and friends are invited and every one is 
expected to take dinner with the child, and, which is more 
important, to bring presents. If the family is poor, this day 
puts into the treasury of life a day of happiness and a goodly 
amount of filthy lucre. If the family is rich the presents are 
correspondingly rich, for nowhere either in Orient or Occi- 
dent can there be found a people more lavish and generous 
in their gifts than the Chinese. All the family can afford 
is spent upon the dinner given on this occasion, with the 
assurance that they will receive in presents and money 
more than double the expense both of the dinner and the 
birth of the child. If they do not "come" they are ex- 
pected to " send " or they " lose face." Among the middle 
class, the presents are of a useful nature, usually in the form 

of money, clothing or silver 
ornaments which are always 
worth their weight in bullion. 
The name given the child 
is called its "milk" name, 
and is supposed to last only 
until the boy enters school. 
Whether boy or girl it may 
answer a good part of its life 
to the place it occupies in the 
family whether first, second, 
or third. 

If a girl she may be com- 
pelled to answer to " Little 
Slave," and if a boy to 

38 




CHILDREN AND CHILD-LIFE 

"Baldhead." But the names usually given indicate the 
place or time of birth, the hope of the parent for the child; 
or exhibit the parent's love of beauty or euphony. 




A friend who was educated in a school situated in Filial 
Piety Lane and who afterwards lived near Filial Piety Gate 
called his first son " Two Filials." Another friend had sons 
whose names were "Have a Man," "Have a Mountain," 
"Have a Garden," "Have a Fish." In conversation with 
this friend about the son whose "milk" name was " Have 
a Man," I constantly spoke of the boy by his "school" 
name, the only name by which I knew him. The old man 
was perfectly blank — he knew not of whom I spoke, as he 
had not seen his son since he got his school name. Finally, 
as it began to dawn on him that I was talking of his son, he 
asked: 

39 



m 



THE CHINESE BOY AND GIRL 

" Whom are you talking about ?" 

"Your son." 

" Oh, you mean ' Have a Man.' " 

This same man had a little girl called "Apple," not an 
ordinary apple, but the most luscious apple known to North 
China. I have as I write a list of names commonly applied 
to girls from which I select the following: Beautiful Au- 
tumn, Charming Flower, Jade Pure, Lucky Pearl, Precious 
Harp, Covet Spring; and the parent's way of speaking of 
his little girl, when not wishing to be self-depreciative, is to 
call her his " Thousand ounces of gold." 

The names given to boys are quite as humiliating or as 
elevating as those given to girls. He may be Number One, 
Two or Three, Pig, Dog or Flea, or he may be like Wu 
T'ing Fang a " Fragrant Palace," or like Li Hung Chang, an 
" Illustrious Bird " or " Learned Treatise." 

During the summer-time in North China the child goes 
almost if not completely naked. Until it is five years old, 
its wardrobe consists largely of a chest-protector and a pair 
of shoes. In the winter-time its trousers are quilted, with 
feet attached, its coat made in the same way, and it is any- 
thing but " clean and sweet." The odor is not unlike that 
of an up-stairs back room in a narrow alley at Five Points, 
in which dwell a whole family of emigrants. 

When the Chinese child is ill he does not have the same 
kind of hospital accommodations, nursing and medical skill 
at his command as do we in the West. His bed is brick, 
his pillow stuffed with bran or grass-seed, he has no sheets, 
his food is coarse and ill-adapted to a sick child's stomach. 

40 






CHILDREN AND CHILD-LIFE 




While his nurse may be kind, gentle and loving she is not 
always skillful, and as for the ability of his physician let the 
following child's song tell us: 




My wife's little daughter once fell very ill, 

And we called for a doctor to give her a pill. 

He wrote a prescription which now we will give her, 

In which he has ordered a mosquito's liver. 

And then in addition the heart of a flea, 

And half pound of fly-wings to make her some tea. 

41 



<i*3*J 



THE CHINESE BOY AND GIRL 

When the child begins to walk and talk it begins to be 
interesting. Its father has a little push cart made by which 
it learns to walk, and the nurse goes about the court with 
it repeating ba ba, ma ma, (notice that these words for papa 
and mama are practically the same in Chinese as in English, 
the b being substituted for p), and all the various words 
which mean elder brother, younger brother, elder and 
younger sisters, uncles, aunts, grandfathers, grandmothers, 
and cousins and all the various relatives which may be 
found in its family, village or home. 

It is not an easy matter to learn the names of one's rela- 
tives in China, as there is a separate name for each showing 
whether the person whom we call uncle is father or 
mother's elder or younger brother or the husband of their 
elder or younger sister. When it comes to learning the 
names of all one's cousins it is quite a difficult affair. Sup- 
pose, for instance, you were to introduce me to your cousin, 
and I wanted to know which one, you might explain that 
he is the son of your mother's elder brother. In China the 
word you used for cousin would express the exact idea. 
The child begins his study of language by learning all these 
relationships. 

These are for the most part taught them by the nurse, 
who is an important element in the Chinese home and a 
useful adjunct to the child. Each little girl in the homes of 
the better classes has her own particular nurse, who teaches 
her nursery songs in her childhood, is her companion during 
her youth, goes with her to her husband's home, when she 
marries presumably to prevent her becoming lonesome, and 

42 



CHILDREN AND CHILD-LIFE 



remains with her through life. In conversation with the 
granddaughters of a duke and their old nurse, I discovered 
that the same games the little children play upon the street, 




they play in the seclusion of their green-tiled palace, and the 
same nursery songs that entice Morpheus to share the mat 
shed of the beggar's boy, entice him also to share the silken 
couch of the emperor in the palace. 

When a boy is old enough, he grows a queue, which takes 
the place in the life of the Chinese boy which his first pair of 
trousers does in that of the American or English boy. It is 
one of the first things he lives for; and he should not be de- 
spised for wearing his hair in this fashion, especially when 
we remember that George Washington and Lafayette and 
their contemporaries wore their hair in a braid down their 
backs. 

Besides the queue has a great variety of uses. It serves 

43 



THE CHINESE BOY AND GIRL 



him in some of the games he plays. When I saw the boys 
in geometry use their queues to strike an arc or draw a circle, 
it reminded me of my college days when I had forgotten to 
take a string to class. The laborer spreads a handkerchief 
or towel over his head, wraps his queue around it and 
makes for himself a hat. The cart driver whips his mule 
with it; the beggar uses it to scare away the dogs; the 
father takes hold of his little boy's queue instead of his hand 
when walking with him on the street, or the child follows 
holding to his father's queue, and the boys use it as reins 
when they play horse. I saw this amusingly illustrated on 
the streets of Peking. Two boys were playing horse. 
Now I have always noticed that when a boy plays horse, it 
is not because he has any desire to be the horse, but the 
driver. He is willing to be horse for a time, in order that he 
may be allowed to be driver for a still longer time. A large 
boy was playing horse with a smaller one, the latter acting 
as the beast of burden. This continued for some time, 
when the smaller, either discovering that a horse is larger 
than a man, or that it is more noble to be a man than a 
horse, balked, and said: 

"Now you be horse." 

The older was not yet inclined to be horse, and tried in 
vain, by coaxing, scolding and whipping, to induce him to 
move, but the horse was firm. The driver was also firm, 
and not until the horse in a very unhorselike manner, gave 
away to tears, could the man be induced to let himself down 
to the level of a horse. From all of which it will be seen 
that the disposition of Chinese children is no exception to 

44 



m 



.A 



CHILDREN AND CHILD-LIFE 

that longing for superiority which prevails in every human 
heart. 

All kinds of trades, professions, and employments have 
as great attraction for Chinese as for American children. A 




country boy looks forward to the time when he can stand 
up in the cart and drive the team. Children seeing a bat- 
talion of soldiers at once "organize a company." This 
was amusingly illustrated by a group of children in Peking 
during the Chinese-Japanese war. Each had a stick or a 
weed for a gun, except the drummer-boy, who was pro- 
vided with an empty fruit-can. They went through va- 
rious maneuvres, for practice, no doubt, and all seemed to 
be going on beautifully until one of those in front shouted, 
in a voice filled with fear: 

45 



THE CHINESE BOY AND GIRL 



" The Japanese are coming, the Japanese are coming." 
This was the signal for a general retreat, and the children, 
in imitation of the army then in the field, retreated in dis- 
order and dismay in every direction. 
The Chinese boys and girls are little men and women. 

At an early age 
they are familiar 
with all the rules 
of behaviour 
which charac- 
terize their after 
life and conduct. 
Their clothes are 
cut on the same 
pattern, out of 
the same kind of 
cloth as those of 
their parents and grandparents. There are no kilts and 
knee-breeches, pinafores and short skirts, to make them feel 
that they are little people. 

But they are little people as really and truly as are the 
children of other countries. A gentleman in reviewing my 
"Chinese Mother Goose Rhymes " speaks of some of the 
illustrations which "present the Chinese children playing 
their sober little games." Why we should call such a game 
as "blind man's buff," "e-ni-me-ni-mi-ni-mo," "this little 
pig went to market" or " pat-a-cake " "sober little games," 
unless it is because of preconceived notions of the Chinese 
people I do not understand. The children are dignified 

46 




CHILDREN AND CHILD-LIFE 

little people, but they enjoy all the attractions of child-life as 
much as other children do. 

It is a mistake to suppose that the life of Chinese children 
is a doleful one. It is understood, of course, that their life 
is not the same, nor to be compared with that of children 
in Europe or America: and it should be remembered further 




that the pleasures of child-life are not measured by the 
gratification of every childish whim. Many of the little 
street children who spend a large part of their time in 
efforts to support the family, when allowed to go to a fair 
or have a public holiday enjoy themselves more in a single 
day than the child of wealth, in a whole month of idleness. 
In addition to his games and rhymes, the fairs which are 
held regularly in the great Buddhist temples in different 
parts of the cities, are to the Chinese boy what a country 
fair, a circus or Fourth of July is to an American farmer's 
boy or girl. He has his cash for candy or fruit, his crackers 
which he fires off at New Year's time, making day a time 

47 



THE CHINESE BOY AND GIRL 

of unrest, and night hideous. Kite-flying is a pleasure 
which no American boy appreciates as does the Chinese, a 
pleasure which clings to him till he is three-score years and 
ten, for it is not uncommon to find a child and his grand- 
father in the balmy days of spring flying their kites together. 
He has his pet birds which he carries around in cages or on 
a perch unlike any other child we have ever seen. He has 
his crickets with which he amuses himself — not "gambles" 
— and his gold fish which bring him days and years of 
delight. Indeed the Chinese child, though in the vast 
majority of cases very poor, has ample provision for a very 
good time, and if he does not have it, it must be his own 
fault. 

Statements about the life of the children, however, may 
be nothing more than personal impressions, and are usually 
colored as largely by the writer's prejudices as by the con- 
ditions of the children. Some of us are so constituted as to 
see the dark side of the picture, others the bright. Let us 
go with the boys and girls to their games. Let us play 
with their toys and be entertained by the shows that enter- 
tain them, and see if they are not of the same flesh and 
blood, heart and sentiment as we. We shall find that the 
boys and girls live together, work together, study together, 
play together, have their heads shaved alike and quarrel 
with each other until they are seven years old, the period 
which brings to an end the life of the Chinese child. From 
this period it is the boy or the girl. 



48 



m 




£^J 







Hffi&fi 



TO 




GAMES PLAYED BY BOYS 

Children's games are always interesting. Chinese games 
are especially so because they are a mine hitherto unex- 
plored. An eminent archdeacon once wrote: "The Chinese 
are not much given to athletic exercises." A well-known 
doctor of divinity states that, "their sports do not require 
much physical exertion, nor do they often pair off, or choose 
sides and compete, in order to see who are the best 
players," while a still more prominent writer tells us that, 
"active, manly sports are not popular in the South." Let us 
see whether these opinions are true. 

Two years ago a letter from Dr. Luther Gulick, at present 
connected with the Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, N. Y., came to 
us while in Peking, asking that we study into the character 
of Chinese children's games. Dr. Gulick was preparing a 

51 



THE CHINESE BOY AND GIRL 



series of lectures on the "Psychology of Play." He desired 
to secure as much reliable information as possible regarding 
the play-life of the children of the East, in order that he 
might discover what relation exists between the games of 
Oriental and those of Occidental children. By so doing he 
would learn the effect of play on the mental and physical 
development as well as the character of children, and 
through them upon the human race as a whole. We were 
fortunate in having at our disposal a large number of 
students connected with Peking University, the preparatory, 
intermediate and primary schools, together with 150 girls in 
attendance at the girls' high school. 

We received the letter at four o'clock, at which time the 
students had just been dismissed from school, and were 
taking their afternoon meal, but at 4:30 we went to the 
playground, notebook in hand, called together some of our 
most interesting boys, explained to them our object, and 
asked them to play for us. Some one may say that this was 
the worst possible thing to do, as it would make the chil- 
dren self-conscious and hence unnatural — the sequel, how- 
ever, will show. 

At first that was exactly what happened. The children 
tittered, and looked at each other in blank astonishment, 
then one of them walked away and several others gathered 
about us. We repeated our explanation in order to secure 
their interest, set their minds to work thinking up games, 
and do away with the embarrassment, and it was only a 
few minutes before an intelligent expression began to appear 
in the eyes of some of the boys, and one of them, who was 

52 



GAMES PLAYED BY BOYS 

always ready for anything new, turned to his companion 
and said: 

" You go and find Chi, and bring him here." 

" Who is Chi ?" we inquired. 

"He is the boy who knows more games than any of the 
rest of us," he explained. 

Away he ran and soon reappeared with a very unpromis- 
ing looking boy whom we recognized as a street waif that 
had been taken into what some one called our "raggedy 
school " a few years before. He was a glum looking boy — 
a boy without a smile. There was a set expression on his 
face which might be interpreted as "life is not worth 
living," or, which would be an equally legitimate interpre- 
tation in the present instance, "these games are of no im- 
portance. If you want them we can play any number of 
them for you, but what will you do with them after you get 
them ?" 

All the crowd began at once to explain to Chi what we 
wanted, and he looked more solemn than ever, then we 
came to his rescue. 

" Chi," we asked, " what kind of games do boys play ? " 

Slowly and solemnly Chi wound one leg around the 
other as he answered : 

" Lots of them." 

This is the stereotyped answer that will come from any 
Chinaman to almost any question he may be asked about 
things Chinese. 

" For instance ?" we further inquired. 

53 



THE CHINESE BOY AND GIRL 







" Forcing the city gates," he answered. 

" Play it for me." 

The boys at once appointed captains who chose sides, 
and they formed themselves into two lines facing each 
other, those of each line taking fast hold of each other's 
hands. The boys on one side then sang: 

He stuck a feather in his hat, 

And hurried to the town, 
And children met him with a horse 

For the gates were broken down. 

Then one from the other side ran with all his force, 
throwing himself upon the hands of the boys who had 
sung, the object being to "break through," in which case 
he took the two whose hands had been parted to "his 
side," while if he failed to break through he had to remain 

54 




GAMES PLAYED BY BOYS 



on their side. The others then sang. One from this group 
tried to break through their line, and thus they alternated 
until one side or the other was broken up. 

The boys were panting and red in the face when the 
game was over, a strong argument against the Chinese-are- 
not-much-given-to-vigorous-exercise theory. 

" Now play something which does not require so much 
exercise," we requested. 

Every one looked at Chi, not that the other boys did not 
know the games, but simply because this matter-of-fact 
boy was their natural leader in this kind of sport. 

" Blind man," he said quietly. 




At once a handkerchief was tied around the eyes of one 
of the boys who was willing to be "blind man," and a 
game corresponding almost exactly to our own "blind 



55 



«S*s 



THE CHINESE BOY AND GIRL 






man's buff " was played, without the remotest embarrass- 
ment, but with as much naturalness as though neither 
teacher nor spectator was near them. 

"Have you any other games which require strength?" 
we inquired. 

"Man-wheel," said Chi in his monosyllabic way. 

" Play it, please." 

"Go and call Wei-Yuan," to one of the smaller boys. 

The boy ran off to find the one indicated, and Chi 
selected two other middle-sized and two small boys. 
When Wei-Yuan, a larger but very good-natured, kindly- 
dispositioned lad, came, the two middle-sized boys stood 




66 



GAMES 



PLAYED 



BY BOYS 



beside him, one facing north, the other south, and caught 
each other's hand over Wei-Yuan's shoulder. The two 
smaller boys then stood beside these two, each of whom 
clutched hold of the small boys' girdles, who in turn 
clutched their girdles and Wei-Yuan took their disengaged 
hands. Thus the five boys were firmly bound together. 
The wheel then began to turn, the small boys were grad- 
ually lifted from the ground and swung or whirled around 
in an almost horizontal position. 

"This game requires more strength," Chi explained, 
"than any other small boys' game." 

" Have you any games more vigorous than this ?" 

" Pitching the stone lock, and lifting the stone dumb- 
bells, but they are for men." 

" What is that game you were playing a few days ago in 
which you used one stick to knock another ?" 

"One is striking the stick, and another is knocking the 
stick." 




57 



THE CHINESE BOY AND GIRL 



" Play one of them." 

Chi drew two lines on the ground eight feet apart, on one 
of which he put a stick. He then threw another stick at it, 
the object being to drive it over the other line. He who 
first succeeds in driving it over the line wins the game. 
The sticks are ten to fifteen inches long. 

Striking the stick is similar to tip-cat which we have 
often seen played by boys on the streets of New York. The 
children mark out a square five or six feet on each side. 
The striker takes a position inside, with his feet spread apart 
as wide as possible, to give him a better command of the 
square. One of the others places the block in the position 
which he supposes will be most difficult for the striker to 
hit. The latter is then at liberty to twist around on one 
foot, placing the other outside the square, in order if possi- 
ble to secure a position from which he can strike to advan- 
tage. He then throws a stick about fifteen inches long at 
the block to drive it out of the square. If he fails, the one 
who placed the block takes the stick, and another places the 
block for him. If he succeeds he has the privilege of strik- 
ing the block three times as follows : He first strikes it per- 
pendicularly, which causes it to bound up two or three feet, 
when he hits it as one would hit a ball, driving it as far as 
possible. This he repeats three times, and if he succeeds 
in driving it the distance agreed upon, which may be 20, 
50, 200, 300, 500 or more feet, he wins the game. If not 
he brings back the block and tries again, continuing 
to strike until he fails to drive it out of the square. This 
game develops ingenuity in placing the block and skill, 

58 




GAMES PLAYED BY BOYS 



in striking, and is one of the most popular of all boys' 
games. 

When they had finished striking the stick one of the 
smaller children went over to where Chi was standing and 
whispered in his ear. The expression of his face remained 
as unchangeable as that of a stone image, as he called out : 

"Select fruit." 





The boys danced about in high glee, selected two captains 
who chose sides, and they all squatted down in two rows 
twenty feet apart. Each boy was given the name of some 
kind of fruit, such as apples, pears, peaches, quinces or 
plums, all of which are common about Peking. The cap- 
tain on one side then blindfolded one of his boys, while 
one from the other group arose and stealthily walked over 
and touched him, returning to his place among his own 
group and taking as nearly as possible the position he had 
when the other was blindfolded. In case his companions 
are uncertain as to whether his position is exactly the same, 

59 



THE CHINESE BOY AND GIRL 



they all change their position, in order to prevent the one 
blindfolded from guessing who it was who left his place. 

The covering was then removed from his eyes, he went 
over to the other side, examined carefully if perchance he 
might discover, from change of position, discomfort in 
squatting, or a trace of guilt in the face or eyes of any of 
them, a clue to the guilty party. He "made faces" to try 
to cause the guilty one to laugh. He gesticulated, grimaced, 
did everything he could think of, but they looked blank and 
unconcerned, or all laughed together, allowing no telltale 
look to appear on their faces. His pantomimes sometimes 
brought out the guilty one, but in case they did not, his last 
resort was to risk a guess, and so he made his selection. If he 
was right he took the boy to his side; if wrong, he stayed 
on their side. One of their side was then blindfolded, 
and the whole was repeated until one group or the other 







60 



GAMES PLAYED BY BOYS 



lost all its men. The game is popular among girls as well 
as boys. 

" Do you have any other guessing games ? " we asked Chi. 

"Yes, there is point at the moon or the stars," he an- 
swered, "and blind man is also a guessing game." 

By this time the boys had become enthusiastic, and had 
entirely forgotten that they were playing for us or indeed for 
any purpose. It was a new experience, this having their 
games taken in a notebook, and each was anxious not only 
that he play well, but that no mistake be made by any one. 
The more Chi realized the importance of playing the games 
properly the more solemn he became, if indeed it were pos- 
sible to be more solemn than was his normal condition. He 
now changed to a game of an entirely different character 
from those already played. Those developed strength, skill 
or curiosity; this developed quick reaction in the players. 

'.'What shall we play ?" inquired one of the boys. 

"Queue," answered Chi. 







THE CHINESE BOY AND GIRL 

Immediately every boy jerked his queue over his shoulder 
and began to edge away from his companions. But as he 
walked away from one he drew near another, and a sudden 
calling of his name would so surprise him that in turning 
his head to see who spoke, his short queue would be jerked 
back over his shoulder and he received a dozen slaps from 
his companions, all of whom were waiting for just such an 
opportunity. This is the object of the game — to catch a 
boy with his queue down his back. Some of the boys, more 
spry than others, would move away to a distance, and then as 
though all unconsciously, allow their queue to hang down 
the back in its natural position, depending upon their fleetness 
or their agility in getting out of the way or bringing the 
queue around in front. This game is peculiarly interesting 
and caused much hilarity. At times even the solemn face 
of Chi relaxed into a smile. 

"Honor," called out Chi, and as in the circus when the 
ringmaster cracks his whip, everything changed. The boys 
each hooked the first finger of his right hand with that of 
his companion and then pulled until their fingers broke 
apart, when they each uttered the word "Honor." This 
must not be spoken before they broke apart, but as soon as 
possible after, and he who was first heard was entitled to 
an obeisance on the part of the other. Those who failed 
the first trial sat down, and those who succeeded paired off 
and pulled once more, and so on until only one was left, 
who, as in the spelling-bees of our boyhood days, became 
the hero of the hour. 

Chi, however, was not making heroes, or was it that he 

62 



GAMES PLAYED BY BOYS 

did not want to hurt the feelings of those who were less 
agile; at any rate he called out " Hockey," and the boys at 




once snatched up their short sticks and began playing at a 
game that is not unlike our American "shinny," a game 
which is so familiar to every American boy as to make de- 
scription unnecessary — the principal difference between 
this and the American game being that the boys all try to 
prevent one boy from putting a ball into what they call the 
big hole, which, like the others, tended to develop quick- 
ness of action in the boys. 

I was familiar with the fact that there are certain games 
which tend to develop the parental or protective instinct in 
children, while certain others develop the combative and de- 
structive, as for instance playing with dolls develops the 
mother-instinct in girls; tea-parties, the love of society; and 
paper dolls teach them how to arrange the furniture in their 
houses; while on the other hand, wrestling, boxing, spar- 
ring, battles, and all such amusements if constantly engaged 

63 




THE CHINESE BOY AND GIRL 



in by boys, tend to make them, if properly guided and in- 
structed, brave and patriotic; but if not properly led, cause 
them to be quarrelsome, domineering, cruel, coarse and 
rough, and I wondered if the Chinese boys had any such 
games. 

"Chi," I asked, "do you have any such games as host 
and guest, or games in which the large boys protect the 
small ones ? " 

"Host and guest," said Chi. 

The boys at once arranged themselves promiscuously over 
the playground, and with a few peanuts, or sour dates 
which they picked up under the date trees, with all the 
ceremony of their race, they invited the others to dine with 
them. After playing thus for a moment, Chi called out: 

" Roast dog meat." 




64 



GAMES PLAYED BY BOYS 



The children gathered in a group, put the palms of their 
hands together, squatted in a bunch or ring, and placed their 
hands together in the centre to represent the pot. The boy 
on the left of the illustration represents Mrs. Wang, the 
guest of the occasion, while Chi himself stands on the right 
with his hand on the head of one of the boys. Chi walked 
around the ring while he sang: 

Roast, roast, roast dog meat, 
The second pot smells bad, 
The little pot is sweet, 
Come, Mrs. Wang, please, 
And eat dog meat. 



He then invited Mrs. Wang to come and partake of a din- 
ner of dog meat with him, and the following conversation 
ensued. 

I cannot walk. 
I'll hire a cart for you. 

I'm afraid of the bumping. 
I'll hire a sedan chair for you. 

I'm afraid of the jolting. 
I'll hire a donkey for you. 

I'm afraid of falling off. 
I'll carry you. 

I have no clothes. 
I'll borrow some for you. 

I have no hair ornaments. 
I'll make some for you. 

I have no shoes. 
I'll buy some for you. 

65 




THE CHINESE BOY AND GIRL 

This conversation may be carried on to any length, ac- 
cording to the fertility of the minds of the children, the ex- 
cuses of Mrs. Wang at times being very ludicrous. All 
these, however, being met, the host carries her off on his 
back to partake of the dainties of a dog meat feast. 

"What were you playing a few days ago when all the 
boys lay in a straight line ?" 

"Skin the snake." 

The boys danced for glee. This was one of their favorite 
games. 

They all stood in line one behind the other. They bent 
forward, and each put one hand between his legs and thus 
grasped the disengaged hand of the boy behind him. 




Then they began backing. The one in the rear lay down 
and they backed over astride of him, each lying down as he 
backed over the one next behind him with the other's head 
between his legs and his head between the legs of his 
neighbor, keeping fast hold of hands. They were thus 
lying in a straight line. 

66 



GAMES PLAYED BY BOYS 




The last one that lay down then got up, and as he walked 
astride the line raised each one after him until all were up, 
when they let go hands, stood straight, and the game was 
finished. 

" Have you any other games which develop the protective 
instinct in boys ?" we inquired of Chi. 

" The hawk catching the young chicks," said the matter- 
of-fact boy, answering my question and directing the boys 
at the same time. 

The children selected one of their number to represent the 
hawk and another the hen, the latter being one of the largest 
and best natured of the group, and one to whom the small 
boys naturally looked for protection. 

They formed a line with the mother hen in front, each 
clutching fast hold of the others' clothing, with a large active 
boy at the end of the line. 

The hawk then came to catch the chicks, but the mother 
hen spread her wings and moved from side to side keeping 
between the hawk and the brood, while at the same time 

67 



THE CHINESE BOY AND GIRL 




the line swayed from side to side always in the opposite 
direction from that in which the hawk was going. Every 
chick caught by the hawk was taken out of the line until 
they were all gone. 

One of the boys whispered something to Chi. 

"Strike the poles," exclaimed the latter. 

As soon as they began playing we recognized it as a game 
we had already seen. 

The boys stood about four feet apart, each having a stick 
four or five feet long which he grasped near the middle. 
As they repeated the following rhyme in concert they struck 
alternately the upper and lower ends of the sticks together, 
occasionally half inverting them and thus striking the upper 
ends together in an underhand way. They struck once for 

68 



GAMES PLAYED BY BOYS 



each accented syllable of the following rhyme, making it a 
very rhythmical game. 

Strike the stick, 

One you see. 
I'll strike you and you strike me. 

Strike the stick, 

Twice around, 
Strike it hard for a good, big sound. 

Strike it thrice, 

A stick won't hurt. 
The magpie wears a small white shirt. 

Strike again. 

Four for you. 
A camel, a horse, and a Mongol too. 

Strike it five — 

Five I said, 
A mushroom grows with dirt on its head. 

Strike it six 

Thus you do, 
Six good horsemen caught Liu Hsiu. 

Strike it seven 

For 'tis said 
A pheasant's coat is green and red. 

Strike it eight, 

Strike it right, 
A gourd on the house-top blossoms white. 

Strike again, 

Strike it nine, 
We'll have some soup, some meat and wine. 
" Strike it ten, 

Then you stop, 
A small, white blossom on an onion top. 

69 



THE CHINESE BOY AND GIRL 

Chi did not wait for further suggestion from any one, but 
called out: 

" Throw cash." 

The boys all ran to an adjoining wall, each took a cash 
from his purse or pocket, and pressing it against the wall, 
let it drop. The one whose cash rolled farthest away took 
it up and threw it against the wall in such a way as to make 
it bound back as far as possible. 

Each did this in turn. The one whose cash bounded 
farthest, then took it up, and with his foot on the place 
whence he had taken it, he pitched or threw it in turn at 
each of the others. Those he hit he took up. When he 
missed one, all who remained took up their cash and struck 
the wall again, going through the same process as before. 
The one who wins is the one who takes up most cash. 

This seemed to call to mind another pitching game, for 
Chi said once more in his old military way: 

"Pitch brickbats." 

The boys drew two lines fifteen feet apart. Each took a 
piece of brick, and, standing on one line pitched to see who 
could come nearest to the other. 

The one farthest from the line set up his brick on the line 
and the one nearest, standing on the opposite line, pitched 
at it, the object being to knock it over. 

If he failed he set up his brick and the other pitched at it. 

If he succeeded, he next pitched it near the other, hopped 
over and kicked his brick against that of his companion, 
knocking it over. Then he carried it successively on his 
head, on each shoulder, on back and breast (walking), in 

70 




GAMES PLAYED BY BOYS 




the bend of his thigh and the bend of his knee (hopping), 
and between his legs (shuffling), each time dropping it on 
the other brick and knocking it over. 

Finally he marked a square enclosing the brick, eighteen 
inches each side, and hopped back and forth over both 
square and brick ten times which constituted him winner of 
the game. 

Chi had become so expert in pitching and dropping the 
brick as to be able to play the game without an error. The 
shuffling and hopping often caused much merriment. 

"What is that game," we inquired of Chi, "the boys on 
the street play with two marbles ? " 

Without directly answering my question Chi turned to 
the boys and said: 

"Kick the marbles." 

The boys soon produced from somewhere, — Chinese boys 

71 




THE CHINESE BOY AND GIRL 




can always produce anything from anywhere, — two marbles 
an inch and a half in diameter. Chi put one on the ground, 
and with the toe of his shoe upon it, gave it a shove. Then 
placing the other, he shoved it in the same way, the object 
being to hit the first. 

There are two ways in which one may win. The first 
boy says to the second, kick this marble north (south, east 
or west) of the other at one kick. If he succeeds he wins, 
if he fails the other wins. 

If he puts it north as ordered, he may kick again to hit 
the other ball, in which case he wins again. If he hits the 
ball and goes north, as ordered, at one kick, he wins 
double. 

Each boy tries to leave the balls in as difficult a position 

72 



GAMES PLAYED BY BOYS 



as possible for his successor; and here comes in a peculiar- 
ity which leaves this game unique among the games of the 
world. If the position in which the balls are left is too 
difficult for the other to play he may refuse to kick and the 
first is compelled to play his own difficult game — or like 
Haman — to hang on his own gallows. It recognizes the 
Chinese golden rule of not doing to others what you would 
not have them do to you. 

The boys spent a long time playing this game — indeed 
they seemed to forget they were playing for us, and we 
were finally compelled to call them off. 

Chi had turned the marbles over to the others as soon as 
he had fairly started it, and stood in that peculiar fashion of 
his with one leg wound around the other, and when we 
called to thena, he simply said as though it were the next 
part of the same game : 

" Kick the shoes." 





73 



THE CHINESE BOY AND GIRL 

The boys all took off their shoes — an easy matter for an 
Oriental — and piled them in a heap. At a given sign they 
all kicked the pile scattering the shoes in every direction, 
and each snatched up, and, for the time, kept what he got. 
Those who were very agile got their own shoes, or a pair 
which would fit them, while those who were slow only 
secured a single shoe, and that either too large or too small. 
It was amusing to see a large-footed boy with a small shoe, 
and a boy with small feet having a shoe or shoes much too 
large for him. 

The game was a good test of the boys' agility. 

On consulting our watch we found it would soon be time 
for the" boys to enter school, but asked them to play one 
more game. 

" Cat catching mice," said Chi. 




74 



GAMES PLAYED BY BOYS 

The children selected one of their company to represent 
the cat and another the mouse. 

The remainder formed a ring with the mouse inside and 
the cat outside, and while the ring revolved, the following 
conversation took place: 

"What o'clock is it ?" 

"Just struck nine." 
" Is the mouse at home ? " 

"He's about to dine." 

All the time the mouse was careful to keep as far as pos- 
sible from the cat. 

The ring stopped revolving and the cat popped in at this 
side and the mouse out at the other. It is one of the rules 
of the game that the cat must follow exactly in the foot- 
steps of the mouse. They wound in and out of the ring 
for some time but at last the mouse was caught and 
"eaten," the eating process being the amusing part of the 
game. It is impossible to describe it as every "cat" does 
it differently, and one of the virtues of a cat is to be a good 
eater. 

The boys continued to play until the bell rang for the 
evening session. They referred to many different games 
which they had received from Europeans, but played only 
those which Chi had learned upon the street before he en- 
tered school. This was repeated day after day, until we 
had gathered a large collection of their most common, and 
consequently their best, games, the number of which was 
an indication of the richness of the play life of Chinese boys. 

75 



THE CHINESE BOY AND GIRL 



Another peculiarly interesting fact was the leadership of 
Chi. The Chinese boy, like the Chinese man is a genuine 
democrat and is ready to follow the one who knows what he 
is about and is competent to take the lead, with little regard 
to social position. It is the civil service idea of a genuine 
democracy ingrained in childhood. 



76 




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GAMES PLAYED BY GIRLS 



After having made the collection of boys' games we 
undertook to obtain in a similar way, fullest information 
concerning games played by the girls. Of course, it was 
impossible to do it alone, for the appearance of a man 
among a crowd of little girls in China is similar to that of a 
hawk among a flock of small chicks — it results in a tittering 
and scattering in every direction, or a gathering together in 
a flock under the shelter of the school roof or the wings of 
the teacher. One of the teachers, however, Miss Effie 
Young, kindly consented to go with us, and a goodly 
number of the small girls, after a less than usual amount of 
tittering and whispering, gathered about us to see what was 
wanted. The smallest among them was the most brave, 
and Miss Young explained that this was a "little street 

79 



THE CHINESE BOY AND GIRL 

waif " who had been taken into the school because she had 
neither home nor friends, with the hope that something 
might be done to save her from an unhappy fate. 
" Do you know any games ? " we asked her. 
She put her hands behind her, hung her head, shuffled 
in an embarrassed manner, and answered : " Lots of 
them." 

" Play some for me." 

This small girl after some delay took control of the party 

and began arranging 
them for a game, 
which she called "go- 
ing to town," similar 
to one which the boys 
called "pounding 
rice." Two of the 
girls stood back to 
back, hooked their 
arms, and as one bent 
forward she raised 
the other from the 
ground, and thus al- 
ternating, they sang: 



f" 






Up you go, down you see, 
Here's a turnip for you and me; 
Here's a pitcher, we'll go to town; 
Oh, what a pity, we've fallen down. 



At which point they both sat down back to back, their 

80 



GAMES PLAYED BY GIRLS 



arms still locked, and asked and answered the following 
questions: 

What do you see in the heavens bright ? 

I see the moon and the stars at night. 
What do you see in the earth, pray tell ? 

I see in the earth a deep, deep well. 
What do you see in the well, my dear ? 

I see a frog and his voice 1 hear. 
What is he saying there on the rock ? 

Get up, get up, ke'rh kua, ke'rh kua. 

They then tried to get up, but, with their arms locked, 
they found it impossible to do so, and rolled over and got 
up with great hilarity. 

This seemed to suggest to our little friend another game, 
which she called "turning the mill." The girls took hold 





81 



THE CHINESE BOY AND GIRL 



of each other's hands, just as the boys do in "churning 
butter," but instead of turning around under their arms they 
turn half way, put one arm up over their head, bringing 
their right or left sides together, one facing one direction 
and one the other ; then, standing still, the following dia- 
logue took place: 

Where has the big dog gone ? 

Gone to the city. 
Where has the little dog gone ? 

Run away. 

Then, as they began to turn, they repeated: 

The big dog's gone to the city; 
The little dog's run away; 
The egg has fallen and broken, 
And the oil's leaked out, they say. 
But you be a roller 
And hull with power, 
And I'll be a millstone 
And grind the flour. 

As soon as this game was finished our little friend 
arranged the children against the wall for another game. 
Everything was in readiness. They were about to begin, 
when one of the larger girls whispered something in her 
ear. She stepped back, put her hands behind her, hung 
her head and thought a moment. 

"Go on," we said. 

"No, we can't play that; there is too much bad talk in it." 

This is one of the unfortunate features of Chinese chil- 

82 






GAMES PLAYED BY GIRLS 

dren's games and rhymes. There is an immense amount of 
bad talk in them. 

She at once called out: 

" Meat or vegetables." 

Each girl began to scurry around to find a pair of old 
shoes, which may be picked up almost anywhere in China, 
and putting one crosswise of the other, they let them fall. 
The way they fell indicated what kind of meat or vegetables 
they were. If they both fell upside down they were the big 
black tiger. If both fell on the side they were double beans. 
If one fell right side up and the other on its side they were 
beans. If both were right side up they were honest officials. 
(What kind of meat or vegetables honest officials are it is 
difficult to say, but that never troubles the Chinese child.) 
If one is right side and the other wrong side up they are 
dogs' legs. If the toe of one rests on the top of the other, 
both right side up and at right angles, they form a dark 
hole or an alley. 

The child whose shoes first form an alley must throw a 
pebble through this alley — that is, under the toe of the shoe 
— three times, or, failing to do so, one of the number takes 
up the shoes, and standing on a line, throws them all back 
over her head. Then she hops to each successively, kicking 
it back over the line, each time crossing the line herself, until 
all are over. In case she fails another tries it in the same 
way, and so on, till some one succeeds. This one then takes 
the two shoes of the one who got the alley, and, hanging 
them successively on her toe, kicks them as far as possible. 
The possessor of the shoes, starting from the line, hops to 

83 



THE CHINESE BOY AND GIRL 

each, picks it up and hops back over the line with it, which 

ends the game. It is a vigorous hopping game for little girls. 
The girls were pretty well exhausted when this game was 

over and we asked them to play something which required 

less exercise. 

" Water the flowers," said the small leader. 

Several of them 
squatted down 
in a circle, put 
their hands to- 
gether in the 
centre to repre- 
sent the flowers. 
One of their 
number gath- 
ered up the front 
of her garment 
in such a way 
as to make a 
bag, and went 

around as if sprinkling water on their heads, at the same 

time repeating: 

" I water the flowers, I water the flowers, 
I water them morning and evening hours, 
I never wait till the flowers are dry, 
I water them ere the sun is high." 




She then left a servant in charge of them while she went 
to dinner. While she was away one of them was stolen. 

84 



GAMES PLAYED BY GIRLS 

Returning she asked: "How is this that one of my 
flowers is gone ? " 

" A man came from the south on horseback and stole one 
before I knew it. I followed him but how could 1 catch a 
man on horseback ?" 

After many rebukes for her carelessness, she again sang: 

" A basin of water, a basin of tea, 
I water the flowers, they're op'ning you see." 

Again she cautioned the servant about losing any of the 
flowers while she went to take her afternoon meal, but an- 
other flower was stolen and this time by a man from the 
west. 

When the mistress returned, she again scolded the servant, 
after which she sang: 

"A basin of water, another beside, 
I water the flowers, they're opening wide." 

This was continued until all the flowers were gone. One 
had been taken by a carter, another by a donkey-driver, an- 
other by a muleteer, another by a man on a camel, and 
finally the last little sprig was eaten by a chicken. The 
servant was soundly berated each time and cautioned to be 
more careful, which she always promised but never per- 
formed, and was finally dismissed in disgrace without either 
a recommendation, or the wages she had been promised 
when hired. 

The game furnishes large opportunity for invention on 

85 



THE CHINESE BOY AND GIRL 



the part of the servant, depending upon the number of those 
to be stolen. This little girl seemed to be at her wit's end 
when she gave as the excuse for the loss of the last one that 
it had been eaten by a chicken. 

This game suggested to our little friend another which 
proved to be the sequel to the one just described, and she 
called out: 



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" The flower-seller." 

The girl who had just been dismissed appeared from 
behind the corner of the house with all the stolen " flowers," 
each holding to the other's skirts. At the same time she 
was calling out: 

"Flowers for sale, 
Flowers for sale, 
Come buy my flowers 
Before they get stale." 

The original owner hereupon appeared and called to her: 
"Hey ! come here, flower-girl, those flowers look like 
mine," and she took one away. 




GAMES PLAYED BY GIRLS 



The flower-seller did not stop to argue the question but 
hurried off crying: 



" Flowers for sale," etc. 

The original owner again called to her: 
"Ho! flower-seller, come here, those flowers are certainly 
mine," whereupon she took them all and whipped the 
flower-seller who ran away crying. 

As the little flower-seller ran away crying in her sleeve, 
she stumbled over an old flower-pot that lay in the school 
court. This accident seemed to act as a reminder to our 
little leader for she called out, 
"Flower-pot." 

The girls divided themselves 

into companies of three and 

stood in the form of a triangle, 

each with her left hand holding 

the right hand of the other, their 

hands being crossed in the centre. 

Then by putting the arms of 

two back of the head of the third 

she was brought into the centre 

(steps into the well), and by 

stepping over two other arms, 

she goes out on the opposite 

side, so that whereas she was on the left side of this and 

the right side of that one, she now stands on the right 

side of this and the left side of that girl. In the same way 

87 






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THE CHINESE BOY AND GIRL 



the second and third girls go through, and so on as long as 
they wish to keep up the game, saying or singing the fol- 
lowing rhyme: 

You first cross Over, and then cross back, 
And step in the well as you cross the track, 
And then there is something else you do, 
Oh, yes, you make a flower-pot too. 

By this time the girls had lost most of their strangeness 
or embarrassment and continued the flower-pot until we 
were compelled to remind them that they were playing for 
us. Everybody let go hands and the little general called 
out, 

" The cow's tail." 

One girl with a small stick in her hand squatted down 




88 



GAMES PLAYED BY GIRLS 



pretending to be digging and the others took a position one 
behind the other similar to the hawk catching the chicks. 
They walked up to the girl digging and engaged in the fol- 
lowing conversation: 



' ' What are you digging ? " 

" Digging a hole." 
"What is it for?" 

"My pot for to boil." 
" What will you heat ?" 

"Some water and broth." 
' ' How use the water ? " 

" I'll wash some cloth." 
" What will you make ? " 

" I'll make a bag." 
"And what put in it ?" 

" A knife and a rag." 
"What is the knife for?" 

" To kill your lambs." 
"What have they done ? " 

" They've eaten my yams. 
" How high were they ?" 

" About so high." 
"Oh, that isn't high." 

" As high as the sky." 



"What is your name?" 

" My name is Grab, what is your name?" 
" My name is Turn." 

" Turn once for me." 

89 



THE CHINESE BOY AND GIRL 



They all walked around in a circle and as they turned 
they sang: 

" We turn about once, 
Or twice I declare, 
And she may grab, 
But we don't care." 

"Can't you grab once for us ? " 
"Yes, but what I grab I keep." 

She then ran to "grab" one of the " lambs" but they 
kept behind the front girl just as the boys did in the hawk 
catching the chicks. After awhile however, they were all 
caught. 

Why this game is called " cow's tail " and the girls called 
"lambs," we do not know. We asked the girls why and 
their answer was, " There is no reason." 

The girls were panting with the running before they were 
all caught and we suggested that they rest awhile, but in- 
stead the little leader called out: 

" Let out the doves." 

One of the larger girls took hold of the hands of two of 
the smaller, one of whom represented a dove and the other 
a hawk. The hawk stood behind her and the dove in front. 

She threw the dove away as she might pitch a bird into 
the air, and as the child ran it waved its arms as though they 
were wings. She threw the hawk in the same way, and it 
followed the dove. 

She then clapped her hands as the Chinese do to bring 

90 



GAMES PLAYED BY GIRLS 

their pet birds to them, and the dove if not caught, returned 
to the cage. This is a very pretty game for little children. 

By this time the girls were all rested and our little friend^ 
said: 

" Seek for gold." 

Three or four of the girls gathered up some pebbles, 
squatted down in a group and scattered them as they would 
a lot of jackstones. Then one drew her finger between two 
of the stones and snapped one against the other. If she hit 
it the two were taken up and put aside. 

She then drew her finger between two more and snapped 
them. 

If she missed, another girl took up what were left, scat- 
tered them, snapped them, took them up, and so on until one 
or another got the most of the pebbles and thus won the game. 




91 



THE CHINESE BOY AND GIRL 

Our little friend was reminded of another and she called 
out: 

"The cow's eye." 

Immediately the girls all sat down in a ring and put their 
feet together in the centre. Then one of their number re- 
peated the following rhyme, tapping a foot with each ac- 
cented syllable. 

One, two, three, and an old cow's eye, 
When a cow's eye's blind she'll surely die. 
A piece of skin and a melon too, 
If you have money I'll sell to you, 

But if you're without, 

I'll put you out. 

The foot on which her finger happened to rest when she 
said "out" was excluded from the ring. Again she re- 
peated the rhyme excluding a foot with each repetition till 
all but one were out. 

Up to this point all the children were in a nervous quiver 
waiting to see which foot would be left, but now the fun 
began, for they took the shoe off and every one slapped 
that unfortunate foot. This was done with good-natured 
vigor but without intention to hurt. It was amusing to see 
the children squirm as they neared the end of the game. 

This game finished, the little girl called out: 

" Pat your hands and knees." 

The girls sat down in pairs and, after the style of " Bean 
Porridge Hot," clapped hands to the following rhyme: 

92 



GAMES PLAYED BY GIRLS 



Pat your hands und knees, 

On January first, 
The old lady likes to go a sightseeing most. 

Pat your hands and knees, 

On February second, 
The old lady likes a piece of candy it is reckoned. 

Pat your hands and knees, 

On March the third, 
The old lady likes a Canton pipe I have heard. 

Pat your hands and knees, 

On April fourth, 
The old lady likes bony fish from the north. 

Pat your hands and knees, 

The fifth of May, 
The old lady likes sweet potatoes every day. 

Pat your hands and knees, 

The sixth of June, 
The old lady eats fat pork with a spoon. 

Pat your hands and knees, 

The seventh of July, 
The old lady likes to eat a fat chicken pie. 

Pat your hands and knees, 

On August eight, 
The old lady likes to see the lotus flowers straight. 

Pat your hands and knees, 

September nine, 
The old lady likes to drink good hot wine. 

Pat your hands and knees, 

October ten, 
The old lady, you and I, may meet I hope again. 

This we afterwards discovered is very widely known 
throughout the north of China. 

93 



THE CHINESE BOY AND GIRL 

The foregoing are a few of the games played by the 
children in Peking. In that one city we have collected 
more than seventy-five different games, and have no reason 
to believe we have secured even a small proportion of what 
are played there. Games played in Central and South China 
are different, partly because of climatic conditions, partly 
because of the character of the people. There, as here, the 
games of children are but reproductions of the employments 
of their parents. They play at farming, carpentry, house- 
keeping, storekeeping, or whatever employments their 
parents happen to be engaged in. Indeed, in addition to 
the games common to a larger part of the country, there 
are many which are local, and depend upon the employ- 
ment of the parents or the people. 



94 



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THE TOYS CHILDREN PLAY WITH 

One day while sitting at table, with our little girl, nineteen 
months old, on her mother's knee near by, we picked up 
her rubber doll and began to whip it violently. The child 
first looked frightened, then severe, then burst into tears and 
plead with her mother not to "let papa whip dolly." 

Few people realize how much toys become a part ot the 
life of the children who play with them. They are often 
looked upon as nothing more than "playthings for chil- 
dren." This is a very narrow view of their uses and 
relationships. There is a philosophy underlying the pro- 
duction of toys as old as the world and as broad as life, a 
philosophy which, until recent years, has been little studied 
and cultivated. 

Playthings are as necessary a constituent of human life as 

97 



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THE CHINESE BOY AND GIRL 



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food or medicine, and contribute in a like manner to the 
health and development of the race. Like the science of 
cooking and healing, the business of toy-making has been 
driven by the stern teacher, necessity, to a rapid self-develop- 
ment for the general good of the little men and women in 
whose interests they are made. 

They are the tools with which children ply their trades; 
the instruments with which they carry on their professions; 
the goods which they buy and sell in their business, and the 
paraphernalia with which they conduct their toy society. 
They are more than this. They are the animals which serve 
them, the associates who entertain them, the children who 
comfort them and bring joy to the mimic home. 

Toys are nature's first teachers. The child with his little 
shovels, spades and hoes, learns his first lessons in agricul- 
ture; with his hammer and nails, he gets his first lessons in 
the various trades; and the bias of the life of many a child 
of larger growth has come from the toys with which he 
played. Into his flower garden the father of Linnaeus in- 
troduced his son during his infancy, and "this little garden 
undoubtedly created that taste in the child which afterwards 
made him the first botanist and naturalist of his age, if not 
of his race." 

No experiments in any chemical laboratory will excite 
more wonder or be carried on with more interest, than those 
which the boy performs with his pipe and basin of soapy 
water. The little girl's mud pies and other sham confec- 
tionery furnish her first lessons in the art of preparing food. 

Her toy dinners and playhouse teas offer her the first ex- 

93 



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TOYS CHILDREN PLAY WITH 




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periences in the entertainment 
of guests. With her dolls, 
she takes her first lessons in 
the domestic relations and 
affections. 

No science has ever origi- 
nated and been carried to any 
degree of perfection in Asia. 
There is no reason why this 
statement should cause the 
noses of Europeans and Amer- 
icans to twitch in derision and 
pride, for there is another fact 
equally momentous in favor of 

the Asiatics, — viz., no religion that originated outside of 
Asia has ever been carried to any degree of perfection. 

The above facts will indicate that we need not hope to 
find the business of toy-making, or the science of child- 
education in a very advanced state in China — the most 
Asiatic country of Asia. Child's play and toy-making have 
been organized into a business and a science in Europe, as 
astronomy, which had been studied so long in Asia, was 
developed into a science by the Greeks. And so we find 
that what is taught in the kindergarten of the West is 
learned in the streets of the East; and the toys which are 
manufactured in great Occidental business establishments, 
are made by poor women in Oriental homes, and the same 
mistakes are made by the one as by the other. 

The same whistle by which the cock crows, enables the 



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THE CHINESE BOY AND GIRL 



dog to bark, the baby to cry, the horse to neigh, the sheep 
to bleat and the cow to low, just as in our own rubber 
goods. The same end is accomplished in the one case as in 
the other. The two, three or twenty cash doll does for the 
Chinese girl what the two, three or twenty dollar one does 
for her antipodal sister, — develops the instinct of mother- 
hood, besides standing a greater amount of rough handling. 
Nevertheless it usually comes to the same deplorable end, 
departing this world, bereft of its arms and legs, without 
going through the tedious process of a surgical operation. 




Chinese toys are less varied, less complicated, less Uuc to 
the original, and less expensive than those of the West, — 
more perhaps like the toys of a century or two ago. Never- 







100 



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TOYS CHILDREN PLAY WITH 



theless they are toys, and in the hands of boys and girls, 
the drum goes "rub-a-dub," the horn "toots," and the 
whistle squeaks. The "gingham dog and calico cat," be- 
sides a score of other animals more nearly related to the soil 
of their native place — being made of clay — express them- 
selves in the language of the particular whistle which hap- 
pens to have been placed within them. All this is to the 
entire satisfaction of "little Miss Muffet" and " little boy 
Blue," just as they do in other lands. 

When the children grow older they have tops to spin that 
whistle as good a whistle, and buzzers to buzz that buzz as 
good a buzz, and music balls to roll, and music carts to pull, 
that emit sounds as much to their satisfaction, as anything 
that ministered to the childish tastes of our grandfathers; 
and these become as much a part of their business and their 
life as if they were living, talking beings. Furthermore, 
their dolls are as much their children as they themselves are 
the offspring of their parents. 

Chinese toys embrace only those which involve no intri- 
cate scientific principles. The music boxes of the West are 
unknown in China except as they are imported. The 
Chinese know nothing about dolls which open and shut 
their eyes, simple as this principle is, nor of toys which are 
self-propelling by some mysterious spring secreted within, 
because, forsooth, they know nothing about making the 
spring. 

There are some principles, however, which, though they 
may not understand, they are nevertheless able to utilize; 
such, for instance, as the expansion of air by heat, and the 



101 



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THE CHINESE BOY AND GIRL 

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creation of air currents. This principle is utilized in lan- 
terns. In the top of these is a paper wheel attached to a 
cross-bar on the ends of which are suspended paper men 
and women together with animals of all kinds making a 
very interesting merry-go-round. These lantern-figures 
correspond to the sawyers, borers, blacksmiths, washers 
and others which twenty or more years ago were on top of 
the stove of every corner grocery or country post-office. 

When we began the study of Chinese toys our first move 
was to call in a Chinese friend whom we thought we could 
trust, and who could buy toys at a very reasonable rate, 
and sent him out to purchase specimens of every variety of 
toys he could find in the city of Peking. We ordered him 
the first day to buy nothing but rattles, because the rattle 
is the first toy that attracts the attention of the child. 

In the evening Mr. Hsin returned with a good-sized 
basket full of rattles. Some were tin in the form of small 
cylinders, with handles in which were small pebbles: others 
were shaped like pails; and others like cooking pots and 
pans. 

Some of the most attractive were hollow wood balls, 
baskets, pails and bottles, gorgeously painted, with long 
handles, necks, or bails. The paint was soon transferred 
from the face of the toy to that of the first child that hap- 
pened to play with it, which child was of course, our own 
little girl. 

The most common rattles representing various kinds of 

fowls and animals known and unknown are made of clay. 

Others are in the form of fat little priests that make one 

102 




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GYS CHILDREN PLAY WITH 

think of Santa Claus, or little roly-poly children that look 
like the little folks who play with them. 

As the child grows larger the favorite rattle is a drum- 
shaped piece of bamboo or other wood, with skin — not in- 
frequently fish skin, stretched over the two ends, and a long 
handle attached. On the sides are two stout strings with 
beads on the ends, which, when the rattle is turned in the 
hand, strike on the drum heads. These rattles of brass or 
tin as well as bamboo, are in imitation of those carried by 
street hawkers. 

We said to Mr. Hsin, " Foreigners say the Chinese do not 
have dolls, how is that?" 

"They have lots of them," he answered in the stereo- 
typed way. 

"Then to-morrow buy samples of all the dolls you can 
find." 

"All ?" he asked with some surprise. 

" Yes, all. We want to know just what kind of dolls 
they have." 

The next evening Mr. Hsin came in with an immense 
load of dolls. He had large, small, and middle sized rag dolls, 
on which the nose was sewed, the ears pasted, and the 
eyes and other features painted. They were rude, but as 
interesting to children as other more natural and more ex- 
pensive ones, as we discovered by giving one of them to 
our little girl. In not a few instances Western children 
have become much more firmly attached to their Chinese 
cloth dolls than any that can be found for them in America 
or Europe. 



103 



Wm 








THE CHINESE BOY AND GIRL 

He had a number of others both large and small with 
papier mache heads, leather bodies, and clay arms and legs. 
The body was like a bellows in which a reed whistle was 
placed, that enabled the baby to cry in the same tone as the 
toy dog barks or the cock crows. They had " real hair" in 
spots on their head similar to those on the child, and they 
were dressed in the same kind of clothing as that used on the 
baby in summer-time, viz., a chest-protector and a pair of 
shoes or trousers. 



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Mr. Hsin then took out a small package in which was 
wrapped a half-dozen or more " little people," as they are 
called, by the Chinese, with paper heads, hands and feet, 
exquisitely painted, and their clothing of the finest silk. 
Attached to the head of each was a silk string by which the 
'• little people " are hung upon the wall as a decoration. 

" But what are these, Mr. Hsin ?" we asked. " These are 

not dolls." 

"No," he answered, "these are cloth animals. The 

104 



TOYS CHILDREN PLAY WITH 




children play with these at 
the same time they play with 
dolls." 

He had gone beyond our in- 
structions. He had brought 
us a large collection of camels 
made of cloth the color of 
the camel's skin, with little 
bunches of hair on the head, 
neck, hump and the joints of 
the legs, similar to those on the 
camel when it is shedding its 
coat in the springtime. He had 
elephants made of a grayish kind of cloth on which were 
harnesses similar to those supposed to be necessary for those 
animals. He had bears with bits of hair on neck and tail 
and a leading string in the nose; horses painted with spots 
of white and red, matched only by the most remarkable 
animals in a circus; monkeys with black beads for eyes, and 
long tails; lions, tigers, and leopards, with large, savage, 
black, glass eyes, with manes or tails suited to each, and 
properly crooked by a wire extending to the tip. And 
finally he laid the bogi-boo, a nondescript with a head on 
each end much like the head of a lion or tiger. When not 
used as a plaything, this served the purpose of a pillow. 

"Do the Chinese have no other kinds of toy animals ?" 
we inquired. 

" Yes," he answered, " I'll bring them to-morrow." 

The following evening he brought us a collection of clay 

105 






THE CHINESE BOY AND GIRL 



toys too extensive to 
enumerate. There 
were horses, cows, 
camels, mules, deer, 
and a host of others 
the original of which 
has never been found 
except in the imagina- 
tion of the people. 
He had women riding 
donkeys followed by 
drivers, men riding 
horses and shooting 
or throwing a spear 
at a fleeing tiger, and 





women with babies in their 
arms while grandmother 
amused them with rattles, and 
father lay near by smoking an 
opium pipe. 

From the bottom of his 
basket he brought forth a 
number of small packages. 
" What are in those ? " 
"These are clay insects." 
They were among the best 
clay work we have seen in 
China. There were tumble- 
bugs, grasshoppers, large 

106 




TOYS CHILDREN PLAY WITH 

beetles, mantis, praying mantis, toads and scorpions, to- 
gether with others never seen outside of China, and some 
never seen at all, the legs and feelers all being made of wire. 
In another package he had a dozen dancing dolls. They 
were made of clay, were an inch and a half long, dressed 
with paper, and had small wires protruding the sixteenth of 
an inch below the bottom of the skirt. He put them all on 
a brass tray, the edge of which he struck with a small stick 
to make it vibrate, thus causing the dancers to turn round 
and round in every direction. 




The next package contained a number of clay beggars. 
Two were fighting, one about to smash his clay pot over 
the other's head: another had his pot on his head for a lark, 
a third was eating from his, while others were carrying theirs 
in their hand. One had a sore leg to which he called atten- 
tion with open mouth and pain expressed in every feature. 

From another package he brought out a number of 
jumping jacks, imitations as it seemed of things Japanese. 
There were monkey acrobats made of clay, wire and skin, 
fastened to a small slip of bamboo. A doll fastened to a 
stick, with cymbals in its hands would clash the cymbals, 
when its queue was pulled. Finally there was a large 
dragon which satisfied its raging appetite by feeding upon 

107 




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wr. 






THE CHINESE BOY AND GIRL 

two or three little 
clay men specially 
prepared for his 
consumption. 

But, perhaps, 
among the most 
interesting of his 
toys were his clay 
whistles. Some of 
these burnt or sun- 
dried toys were 
hollow and in the 
shape of birds, 
beasts and insects. 
. -- - When blown into, 

they would emit 
the shrillest kind of a whistle. In others a reed whistle 
had been placed similar to those in the dolls, and these 
usually had a bellows to blow them. Whether cock or hen, 
dog or child, they all crowed, barked, cackled, or cried in 
the self-same tone. 

" What will you get to-morrow ?" 

"Drums, knives, and tops," said Mr. Hsin. He was 
being paid by the day for spending our money, and so had 
his plans well laid. 

The following evening he brought a large collection of 
toy drums, some of which were in the shape of a barrel, both 
in their length and in being bulged out at the middle. On 

the ends were painted gay pictures of men and women clad 

108 







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TOYS CHILDREN PLAY WITH 



in battle array or festive garments, making the drum a wo.k 
of art as well as an instrument of torture to those who are 
disturbed by noises about the house. 

He had large knives covered with bright paint which 
could easily be washed off, and tridents, with loose plates 
or cymbals, which make a noise to frighten the enemy. 

The tops Mr. Hsin had collected were by far the most 
interesting. Chinese tops are second to none made. They 
are simple, being made of bamboo, are spun with a string, 
and when properly operated emit a shrill whistle. 

The ice top, without a stem, and simply a block of wood 
in shape of a top, is spun with a string, but is kept going 
by whipping. 

Another toy which foreigners call a top is entirely differ- 
ent from anything we see in the West. The Chinese call it 
a K'nng chung, while the top is called t'o lo. It is con- 
structed of two pieces of bamboo, each of which is made 
like a top, and then joined by a carefully turned axle, each 
end being of equal weight, and looking not unlike the 
wheels of a cart. It is then spun by a string, which is 





W W 



109 




THE CHINESE BOY AND GIRL 

wound once around the axle and attached to two sticks. 
A good performer is able to spin it in a great variety of 
ways, tossing it under and over his foot, spinning it with 
the sticks behind him, and at times throwing it up into the 
air twenty or thirty feet and catching it as it comes down. 
The principle upon which it is operated is the quick jerking 
of one of the sticks while the other is allowed to be loose. 

"To-morrow," said Mr. Hsin, as he ceased spinning the 
top, "I will get you some toy carts." 

The Chinese cart has been described as a Saratoga trunk 
on two wheels. This is, however, only one form — that of 
the passenger cart. There are many others, and all of them 
are used as patterns of toy carts. They all have a kind of 
music-box attachment, operated by the turning of the axle 
to which the wheels of the toys, as well as those of some of 
the real carts, are fixed. 

The toy carts are made of tin, wood and clay. Some of 
them are very simple, having paper covers, while others 
possess the whole paraphernalia of the street carts. When 
the mule of the toy cart is unhitched and unharnessed, he 
looks like a very respectable mule. Nevertheless, instead of 
devouring food, he becomes the prey of insects. Usually 
he appears the second season, if he lasts that long, bereft of 
mane and tail, as well as a large portion of his skin. 

The flat carts have a revolving peg sticking up through 

the centre, on which a small clay image is placed which 

turns with the stick. Others are placed on wires on the 

two sides, to represent the driver and the passengers. 

These in Peking are the omnibus carts. Running from the 

110 






TOYS CHILDREN PLAY WITH 




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east g'ate of the Imperial city to the front gate, and in other 
parts of the city as well, there are street carts corresponding 
to the omnibus or street cars of the West. These start at 
intervals of ten minutes, more or less, with eight or ten 
persons on a cart, the fare being only a few cash. Toy 
carts of this kind have six or eight clay images to represent 
the passengers. 

Mr. Hsin brought out from the bottom of his basket a 
number of neatly made little pug dogs, and pressing upon a 
bellows in their body caused them to bark, just as the hen 
cackled a few days before. 

What we have described formed only a small portion of 

the toys Mr. Hsin brought. Cheap clay toys of all kinds 

are hawked about the street by a man who sells them at a 

fifth or a tenth of a cent apiece. With him is often found 

111 






THE CHINESE BOY AND GIRL 

a candy-blower, who with a reed and a bowl of taffy- 
candy is ready to blow a man, a chicken, a horse and cart, 
a corn ear, or anything else the child wants, as a glass- 
blower would blow a bottle or a lamp chimney. The child 
plays with his prize until he tires of it and then he eats it. 










112 



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BLOCK GAMES— KINDERGARTEN 

It was on a bright spring afternoon that a Chinese offi- 
cial and his little boy called at our home on Filial Piety Lane, 
in Peking. 

The dresses of father and child were exactly alike — as 
though they had been twins, boots of black velvet or satin, 
blue silk trousers, a long blue silk garment, a waistcoat of 
blue brocade, and a black satin skullcap — the child was in 
every respect, even to the dignity of his bearing, a vest- 
pocket edition of his father. 

He had a T'ao of books which I recognized as the Fifteen 
Magic Blocks, one of the most ingenious, if not the most 
remarkable, books I have ever seen. 

A T'ao is two or any number of volumes of a book 
wrapped in a single cover. In this case it was two volumes. 

115 



THE CHINESE BOY AND GIRL 




the cover there 
sion three inches 
was kept a piece 
or pasteboard, 
teen pieces as in 
illustration. 
are all in pairs 
which is a rhom- 



In the inside of 
was a depres- 
square in which 
of lead, wood 
divided into fif- 
the following 

These blocks 
except one, 
boid. They are all exactly proportional, having their sides 
either half-inch, inch, inch and a half, or two inches in 
length. 

They are not used as are the blocks in our kindergarten 
simply to make geometrical figures, but rather to illustrate 
such facts of history as will have a moral influence, or be an 
intellectual stimulus to the child. 

He may build houses with them, or make such ancient or 
modefn ornaments, or household utensils, as may suit his 
fancy; but the primary object of the blocks and the books, 
is to impress upon the child's mind, in the most forcible 
way possible, the leading facts of history, poetry, mythology 
or morals; while the houses, boats and other things are 
simply side issues. 

The first illustration the child constructed for me, for I 
desired him to teach me how 
it was done, was a dragon 
horse, and when I asked him 
to explain it, he said that it 
represented the animal seen by 

Fu Hsi, the original ancestor 

116 








BLOCK GAMES-KINDERGARTEN 

of the Chinese people, emerging from the Meng river, bearing 
upon its back a map on which were fifty-five spots, repre- 
senting the male and female principles of nature, and which 
the sage used to construct what are called the eight diagrams. 

The child tossed the blocks off into a pile and then con- 
structed a tortoise which he said 
was seen by Yii, the Chinese Noah, 
coming out of the Lo river, while 
he was draining off the floods. On 
its back was a design which he used as a pattern for the 
nine divisions of his empire. 

These two incidents are referred to by Confucius, and 
are among the first learned by every Chinese child. 

I looked through the book and noticed that many of the 
designs were for the amusement of the children, as well 
as to develop their ingenuity. In the two volumes of the 
T'ao he had only the outlines of the pictures which he 
readily constructed with the blocks. But he had with him 
also a small volume which was a key to the designs having 
lines indicating how each block was placed. This he had 
purchased for a few cash. Much of the interest of the book, 
however, attached to the puzzling character of the pictures. 

There was one with a verse attached somewhat like the 
following: 

The old wife drew a chess-board 

On the cover of a book, 
While the child transformed a 
needle 

Into a fishing-hook. 

117 




THE CHINESE BOY AND GIRL 



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Chinese literature is full of examples of men and women 
who applied themselves to their books with untiring dili- 
gence. Some tied their hair to the beam of their humble 
cottage so that when they nodded with sleepiness the jerk 
would awake them and they might return to their books. 

Others slept upon globular pillows that when they be- 
came so restless as to move and cause the pillow to roll 
from under their head they might get up and study. 

The child once more took the blocks and illustrated how 
one who was so poor as to be unable 
to furnish himself with candles, con- 
fined a fire-fly in a gauze lantern using 
that instead of a lamp. At the same 
time he explained that another who 
was perhaps not able to afford the 
gauze lantern, studied by the light of a glowworm. 

"K'ang Heng," said the child, 
as he put the blocks together in a 
new form, " had a still better way, 
as well as more economical. His 
house was built of clay, and as the 
I j\\ I \^ I window of his neighbor's house 
^ ^. \ ^^* was immediately opposite, he 

chiseled a hole through his wall and thus took advantage of 
his neighbor's light. 

"Sun K'ang's method was 
very good for winter," continued 
the child as he rearranged the 
blocks, "but I do not know 

118 







BLOCK GAMES-KINDERGARTEN 

what he would do in summer. He 
studied by the light reflected from 
the snow. 

"Perhaps," he went on as he 
changed the form, "he followed 
the example of another who studied 
by the pale light of the moon." 
"What does that represent?" I 
asked him pointing to a child with a bowl in his hand who 
looked as if he might have been going to the grocer's. 
"Oh, that boy is going to buy wine." 
The Chinese have never yet realized what a national evil 
liquor may become. They have little wine shops in the 
great cities, but they have no drinking houses corresponding 
to the saloon, and it is not uncommon to see a child going 
to the wine shop to fetch a bowl of wine. The Buddhist 
priest indulges with the same moderation as the official class 
or gentry. Indeed most of the drunkenness we read about 
in Chinese books is that of poets and philosophers, and in 
them it is, if not commended, at least not condemned. 
The attitude of literature towards them is much like that of 
Thackeray towards the gentlemen 
of his day. 

The child constructed the picture 
of a Buddhist priest, who, with 
staff in hand, and a mug of wine, 
was viewing the beautiful moun-! 
tains in the distance. He then 
changed it to one in which an intox- 

119 








THE CHINESE BOY AND GIRL 

icated man was leaning on a boy's 
shoulder, the inscription to which 
said : "Any one is willing to assist a 
drunken man to return home." 

"This," he went on as he changed 
his blocks, "is a picture of Li Pei, 
China's greatest poet. He lived more than a thousand years 
ago. This represents the closing scene in his life. He 
was crossing the river in a boat, and in a drunken effort to 
get the moon's reflection from the water, he fell overboard 
and was drowned." The child pointed to the sail at the 

same time, repeating the fol- 
lowing: 





The sail being set, 
He tried to get, 
The moon from out the main. 
O 

I noticed a large number of boat scenes and induced the 
child to construct some of them for me, which he was quite 
willing to do, explaining them as he went as readily as our 
children would explain Old Mother Hubbard or the Old 
Woman who lived in her shoe, by seeing the illustrations. 

Constructing one he repeated 
a verse somewhat like the fol- 
lowing: 

Alone the fisherman sat, 

In his boat by the river's brink, 
In the chill and cold and snow, 

To fish, and fish, and think. 

120 




^ <r 



BLOCK GAMES-KINDERGARTEN 

Then he turned over to two on opposite pages, and as he 
constructed them he repeated in turn: 

In a stream ten thousand li in length 
He bathes his feet at night, 

While on a mount he waves his arms, 
Ten thousand feet in height. 








The ten thousand li in one couplet corresponds to the 
ten thousand feet in the other, while the bathing of the 
feet corresponds to the waving of the arms. Couplets of 
this kind are always attractive to the Chinese child as well 
as to the scholar, and poems and essays are replete with 
such constructions. 

The child enjoyed making the pictures. I tried to make 
one, but found it very difficult. I was not familiar with the 
blocks. It is different now, I have learned how to make 
them. Then it seemed as if it would be impossible ever to 
do so. When I had failed to make the picture I turned them 
over to him. In a moment it was done. 

"Who is it?" I asked. 

121 





THE CHINESE BOY AND GIRL 

"Chang Ch'i, the poet," he 
answered. "Whenever he 
went for a walk he took with 
him a child who carried a bag 
in which to put the poems he 
happened to write. In this 
illustration he stands with his 
head bent forward and his 
hands behind his back lost in thought, while the lad stands 
near with the bag." 

We have given in another chapter the story of the great 
traveller, Chang - Ch'ien, and his 

search for the ^^ V^| source of the 

Yellow River. f*^ 1 SS ' n one °^ ^ e 

illustrations the O^ ^ if^^ child repre- 

sented him in ^"™ "* r f^^ n ^ s ^ oat m a 
way not very X-« wmmmmm—^ different from 

that of the artist. 

Another quotation from one of the poets was illustrated 
as follows : 



Last night a meeting I ar- 
ranged, 
Ere I my lamp did light, 
Nor while I crossed the ferry 
feared, 
Or wind or rain or night. 



The child's eyes sparkled as he turned to some of those 

illustrating children at play, and as he constructed one which 

122 



-'fflh 



BLOCK GAMES-KINDERGARTEN 




represents two children swinging their arms and running, 
he repeated : 

See the children at their 

play, 
Gathering flowers by the 

way. 

"They are gathering 
pussy-willows," he added. 

In another he represented a child standing before the 
front gate, where he had knocked in vain to gain admis- 
sion. As he completed it he said, pointing to the apricot 

over the door: 

Ten times he knocked upon the gate, 

But nine, they opened not, 
Above the wall he plainly saw, 
A ripe, red apricot. 

He continued to represent quota- 
tions from the poets and explain 
them as he went along. 

There was one which indicated that some one was ascend- 
ing the steps to the jade platform on which the dust had settled 
as it does on everything in Peking; at the same time the 
verse told us that C7 



Step by step we reach the plat- 
form, 

All of jade of purest green, 
Call a child to come and sweep it, 

But he cannot sweep it clean. 

123 








THE CHINESE BOY AND GIRL 



"You know," he went on, "the cottages of many of the 
poets were near the beautiful lakes in central China, in the 
wild heights of the mountains, or upon the banks of some 
flowing stream. In this one the pavilion of the poet is on 
the bank of the river, and we are told that, 

V In his cottage sat the poet, 

Thinking, as the moon went by, 
That the moonlight on the water, 
Made the water like the sky." 






Sf 



QQQ 



Changing it somewhat he made a 
cottage of a different kind. This was 
not made for the picture's sake, but to illustrate a sentence it 
was designed to impress upon the child's mind. The quota- 
tion is somewhat as follows: 



The ringing of the evening bells, 
The moon a crescent splendid, 

The rustling of the swallow's 
wings 
Betoken winter ended. 



n£' 



t>fc£ 






UUK.CU up 



The child looked up at me significantly as he turned to 

one which represented a Buddhist 

priest. I expected something of a 

joke at the priest's expense as in 

_ f 1 ^^ tne nurser y rhymes and games, but 

\ "V I ^^"^ there was none. That would in- 

\ N \ jure the sale of the book. The 

|J' tJ inscription told us that "a Buddhist 

124 



r 









%' 



BLOCK GAMES-KINDERGARTEN 



lantern will reflect light enough to illuminate the whole 
universe." 

Turning to the next page we found a priest sitting in 
front of the temple in the act of beating his wooden drum, 
while the poet exclaims: 

O crystal pool and silvery moon, 

So clear and pure thou art, 
There's nought to which thou wilt 
compare 

Except a Buddha's heart. 

The child next directed our atten- 
tion to various kinds of flowers, more 
especially the marigold. A man in a 
boat rows with one hand while he points backward to the 
blossoming marigold, while in another picture the poet tells 

us that, 

Along the eastern wall, 

We pluck the marigold, 
While on the south horizon, 

The mountain we behold. 





"What is that?" I asked as 
he turned to a picture of an old 
man riding on a cow. 

" That is Laotze the founder of 
Taoism, crossing the frontier at the 
Han Ku Pass between Shansi and 
Shensi, riding upon a cow. No- 
body knows where he went." Sj*. 2 { . ^ 



<?% 



There were other 



pictures 
125 



Of 



THE CHINESE BOY AND GIRL 

Taoist patriarchs keeping sheep. By their magic power 
they turned the sheep into stones when they were tired 
watching them, and again 'the inscriptions told us, "the 
stones became sheep at his call." Still others represented 
them in search of the elixir of life, while in others they 
were riding on a snail. 

The object of thus bringing in incidents from all these Bud- 
dhist, Taoist, Confucian, and other sources is that by catering 
to all classes the book may have wide distribution, and what- 
ever the Confucianist may say, it must be admitted that the 
other religions have a strong hold upon the popular mind. 
The last twenty-six illustrations in Vol. I represent various 
incidents in the life, history and em- 
ployments of women. 

The first of these is an ancient 
empress " weaving at night by her 
palace window." 

Another represents a woman in 
her boat and we are told that, " leaving her oar she leisurely 
sang a song entitled, ' Plucking the Caltrops.' " 

Another represents a woman 
"wearing a pomegranate-colored 
dress riding a pear-blossom colored 
horse." A peculiar combination to 
say the least. 

The fisherman's wife is repre- 
sented in her boat, " making her 
toilet at dawn using the water as a mirror." While we 
are assured also that the woman sitting upon her veranda 

126 





BLOCK GAMES-KINDERGARTEN 





" finds it very difficult to thread her needle by the pale light 
of the moon," which fact, few, I think, would question. 

In one of the pictures "a beautiful maiden, in the bright 
moonlight, came beneath the trees." This is evidently con- 
trary to Chinese a»-^> ^ ideas of propriety, 
for the Classic for 5TTN ^"^O^ girls tells us that a 




go out at night ex- 
with a servant 
As it was bright 
ever, let us hope 



maiden should not 
cept in company 
bearing a lantern, 
moonlight, how- 
she was excusable. 

This sauntering about in the court is not uncommon if 
we believe what the books say, for in the next picture we 
are told that: A 

As near the middle summer-house, 

The maiden sauntered by, 
Upon the jade pin in her hair 

There lit a dragon-fly. 

The next illustration represented 
the wife of the famous poet Ssu-Ma Hsiang-Ju in her hus- 
band's wine shop. 

127 




THE CHINESE BOY AND GIRL 




This poet fell in love with the 
widowed daughter of a wealthy mer- 
chant, the result of which was that 
the young couple eloped and were 
married; and as the daughter was 
disinherited by her irate parent, she 
was compelled to wait on customers 
in her husband's wine shop, which 
she did without complaint. In spite' of their imprudent 
conduct, and for the time, its unhappy results, as soon as 
the poet had become so famous as to be summoned to 
court, the stern father relented, and, as it was a case of 
undoubted affection, which the Chinese readily appreciate, 
they have always had the sympathy of the whole Chinese 
people. 

One of the most popular women 
in Chinese history is Mu Lan, the 
Chinese Joan of Arc. Her father, a 
great general, being too old to take 
charge of his troops, and her broth- 
ers too young, she dressed herself 
in boy's clothing, enrolled herself 
in the army, mounted her father's trusty steed, and led his 
soldiers to battle, thus bringing honor to herself and renown 
upon her family. 

We have already seen how diligent some of the ancient 
worthies were in their study. This, however, is not uni- 
versal, for we are told the mother of Liu Kung-cho, in 
order to stimulate her son to study took pills made of bear's 

128 







BLOCK GAMES-KINDERGARTEN 



& 



ts 




gall and bitter herbs, to show her sym- 
pathy with her boy and lead him to 
feel that she was willing to endure 
bitterness as well as he. 

The last of these examples of noble 
women is that of the wife of Liang 
Hung, a poor philosopher of some 
two thousand years ago. An effort was made to engage 
him to Meng Kuang, the daughter of a rich family, whose 
lack of beauty was more than balanced by her remarkable 
intelligence. The old philosopher feared that family pride 
might cause domestic infelicity. The girl on her part stead- 
fastly refused to marry any one else, declaring that unless 
she married Liang Hung, she would not marry at all. This 
unexpected constancy touched the old man's heart and he 
married her. She dressed in the 
most common clothing, always pre- 
pared his food with her own hand, 
and to show her affection and re- 
spect never presented him with the 
rice-bowl without raising it to the 
level of her eyebrows, as in the illustration. 

It may be interesting to see some of the ornaments and 
utensils the child made with his blocks. I shall therefore 
add three, a pair of scissors, a teapot, and a seal with a 
turtle handle. 

Such is in general the character of the book the official's 
little boy had with him. I afterwards secured several copies 
for myself and learned to make all the pictures first shown 

129 




THE CHINESE BOY AND GIRL 



me by the child, and I discovered that it is but one of 
several forms of what we may call kindergarten work, that 
it has gone through many editions, and is very widely dis- 
tributed. My own set contains 216 illustrations such as 1 
have given. 



130 




CHILDREN'S SHOWS AND ENTERTAINMENTS 



My little girl came running into my study greatly excited 
and exclaiming: 

" Papa, the monkey show, the monkey show. We want 
the monkey show, may we have it ? " 

Now if you had but one little girl, and she wanted a 
monkey show to come into your own court and perform 
for her and her little friends for half an hour, the cost of 
which was the modest sum of five cents, what would you 
do? 

You would do as I did, no doubt, go out with the little 
girl, call in the passing showman and allow him to perform, 
which would serve the triple purpose of furnishing relaxa- 
tion and instruction for yourself, entertainment for the 
children, and business for the showman. 

133 



THE CHINESE BOY AND GIRL 



r *J&?'JI& J Z£$ 



This however 
proved to be not 
the monkey 
show but Punch 
and Judy, a spe- 
cies of entertain- 
ment for chil- 
dren, the exact 
counterpart of 
our own enter- 
tainment of that 
name. It may 
be of interest to 
young readers 
to know how 
this show origi- 
nate d , and I 
doubt not it will 
be a surprise to 
some older ones 
to know that it 
dates back to about the year iooo b. c. 

We are told that while the Emperor Mu of the Chou 
dynasty was making a tour of his empire, a skillful me- 
chanic, Yen Shih by name, was brought into his presence, 
and entertained him and the women of his seraglio with a 
dance performed by automaton figures, which were capable 
not only of rhythmical movements of their limbs, but of ac- 
companying their movements with songs. 

134 







CHILDREN'S ENTERTAINMENTS 

During and at the close of the performance, the puppets 
cast such significant glances at the ladies as to anger the 
monarch, and he ordered the execution of the originator of 
the play. 

The mechanic however ripped open the puppets, and 
proved to his astonished majesty that they were only arti- 
ficial objects, and instead of being executed he was allowed 
to repeat his performance. This was the origin of the play 
in China which corresponds to Punch and Judy in Europe 
and America. 

To the question which naturally arises as to how the 
play was carried to the West, I reply, it may not have been 
carried to Europe at all, but have originated there. From 
marked similarities in the two plays however, and more 
especially in the methods of their production, we may sup- 
pose that the Chinese Punch and Judy was carried to Europe 
in the following way: 

Among the many traders who visited Central Asia while 
it was under the government of the family of Genghis 
Khan, were two Venetian brothers, Maffeo and Nicolo Polo, 
whose wondering disposition and trading interests led them 
as far as the court of the Great Khan, where they remained 
in the most intimate relations with Kublai for some time, 
and were finally sent back to Italy with a request that one 
hundred European scholars be sent to China to instruct them 
in the arts of Europe. 

This request was never carried out, but the two returned 
to the Khan's court with young Marco, the son of one of 
them, who remained with the Mongol Emperor for seven- 

135 




v'"^s^ : 



THE CHINESE BOY AND GIRL 



teen years, during which time he had a better opportunity 
of observing their customs than perhaps any other foreigner 
since his time. His final return to Italy was in 1295, and a 
year or two later, he wrote and revised his book of travels. 

The art of printing in Europe was discovered in 1438, and 
the first edition of Marco Polo's travels was printed about 
1 550—59. Our Punch and Judy was invented by Silvio 
Fiorillo an Italian dramatist before the year 1600. I have 
found no reference to the play in Marco Polo's works, 
nevertheless, one cannot but think that, if not a written, at 
least an oral, communication of the play may have been 
carried to Europe by him or some other of the Italian 
traders or travellers. The two plays are very similar, even 
to the tones of the man who works the puppets. 

In passing the school court on one occasion I saw the 
students gathered in a crowd under the shade of the trees. 
A small tent was pitched, on the front of which was a little 
stage. A manager stood behind the screen from which 
position he worked a number of puppets in the form of 
men, women, children, horses and dragons. These were 
suspended by black threads as I afterwards discovered from 
small sticks or a framework which the manager manipulated 
behind the screen. When one finished its part of the per- 
formance, it either walked off the stage, or the stick was 
fastened in such a way as to leave it in a position conducive 
to the amusement of the crowd. These were puppet 
shows, and were put through entire performances or plays, 
the manager doing the talking as in Punch and Judy. 

After the performance several of the students passed 

136 



CHILDREN'S ENTERTAINMENTS 




around the hat, each person present giving one-fifth or one- 
tenth of a cent. 

As I came from school one afternoon, the children had 
called in from the street a showman with a number of 
trained mice. He had erected a little scaffolding just inside 
the gateway, at one side of which there was a small rope 
ladder, and this with the inevitable gong, and the small boxes 
in which the mice were kept constituted his entire outfit. 

In the boxes he had what seemed to be cotton from the 
milk-weed which furnished a nest for the mice. These he 
took from their little boxes one by one, stroked them 
tenderly, while he explained what this particular mouse 
would do, put each one on the rope ladder, which they as- 
cended, and performed the tricks expected of them. These 
were going through a pagoda, drawing water, creeping 
through a tube, wearing a criminal's collar, turning a tread- 

137 




THE CHINESE BOY AND GIRL 



mill, or work- 
ing some other 
equally simple 
trick. 

At times the 
mice had to be 
directed by a 
small stick in 
the hands of the 
manager, but 
they were care- 
fully trained, 

kindly treated, 
and much ap- 
preciated by the 
children. 

Although less 

attractive, there 

is no other show 

which impresses itself so forcibly on the child's mind as the 

monkey, dog and sheep show. 

The dog was the first to perform. Four hoops were 
placed on the corners of a square, ten feet apart. The dog 
walked around through these hoops, first through each in 
order, then turning went through each twice, then through 
one and retracing his steps went through the one last passed 
through. 

The showman drove an iron peg in the ground on which 
were two blocks representing millstones. To the upper 

138 






CHILDREN'S ENTERTAINMENTS 




one was a lever by which the dog with his nose turned the 
top millstone as if grinding flour. He was hitched to a 
wheelbarrow, the handles of which were held by the 
monkey, who pushed while the dog pulled. 

The most interesting part of the performance, however, 
was by the monkey. Various kinds of hats and false faces 
wefe kept in a box which he opened and secured. He 
stalked about with a cane in his hand, or crosswise back of 
his neck, turned handsprings, went through various trapeze 
performances, such as hanging by his legs, tail, chin, and 
hands, or was whirled around in the air. 

The leading strap of the monkey was finally tied to the 
belt of the sheep which was led away to some distance and 
let go. The monkey bounded upon its back and held fast 
to the wool, while the sheep ran with all its speed to the 
showman, who held a basin of broom-corn seed as a bait. 
This was repeated as often as the children desired, which 

139 



THE CHINESE BOY AND GIRL 



ended the show. Time, — half an hour; spectators, — all who 

desired to witness it; price, — five cents. 
The showmen in China are somewhat like the tramps and 

beggars in other countries. When they find a place where 

there are children who enjoy shows, each tells the other, and 

they all call around in turn. 

Our next show was an exhibition given by a man with a 

trained bear. 
The animal had two rings in his nose, to one of which 

was fastened a leading string or strap, and to the other, 

while perform- 
ing, a large 
chain. A man 
stood on one end 
of the chain, and 
the manager, 
with a long- 
handled ladle, or 
with his hand, 
gave the bear 
small pieces of 
bread or other 
food after each 
trick he per- 
formed. 

The first trick 
was walking on 
his hind feet as 
if dancing. But 

140 








CHILDREN'S ENTERTAINMENTS 

more amusing than this to the children was to see him turn 
summersaults both forward and backward. These' were 
repeated several times because they were easily done, and 
added to the length of time the show continued. 

Children, however, begin to appreciate at an early age what 
is difficult and what easy, and it was not until he took a carry- 
ing-pole six feet long, put the middle of it upon his forehead 
and set it whirling with his paws, that they began to say: 

"That's good," "That's hard to do," and other expres- 
sions of a like nature. 

They enjoyed seeing him stand on his front feet, or on his 
head with his hind feet kicking the air, but they enjoyed 
still more seeing him put on the wooden collar of a convict 
and twirl it around his neck. The manager gave him some 
bread and then tried to induce him to take it off, but he 
whined for more bread and refused to do so. Finally he 
took off the collar, and when they tried to take it from him 
he put it on again. When he took it off the next time and 
offered it to them they refused to receive it, but tried to get 
him to put it on, which he stubbornly refused to do, and 
finally threw it away. 

His last trick was to sit down upon his haunches, stick 
up one of his hind feet, and twirl a knife six feet long 
upon it as he had twirled the carrying-pole upon his head. 
The manager said he would wrestle with the men, but this 
was a side issue and only done when extra money was 
added to the regular price, which was twelve cents. 

One of the most common showmen seen on the streets of 
Peking, goes about with a framework upon his shoulder in 

141 



THE CHINESE BOY AND GIRL 



the shape of a sled, the runners of which are turned up at 
both ends. It seemed to me to be less interesting than the 
other shows, but as it is more common, the children prob- 
ably look upon it with more favor, and the children are the 
final critics of all things for the little ones. 

The show was given by a man and two boys, one of 
whom impersonated a girl. Small feet, like the bound feet 
of a girl, were strapped on like stilts, his own being covered 
by wide trousers, and he and the boy sang songs and 
danced to the music of the drum and cymbals in the hands 
of the showman. 




The second part of the performance was a boat ride on 
dry land. The girl got into the frame, let down around it a 
piece of cloth which was fastened to the top, and took hold 
of the frame in such a way as to carry it easily. The boy, 
with a long stick, pushed as if starting the boat, and then 

142 



CHILDREN'S ENTERTAINMENTS 



pulled as if rowing, and with every pull of the oar, the girl 
ran a few steps, making it appear that the boat shot for- 
ward. All the while the boy sang a boat-song or a love- 
ditty to his sweetheart. 

Again the scene changed. The head and hind parts of a 
papier mdche horse were fastened to the " tomboy " in such 
a way as to make it appear that she was riding; a cloth was 
let down to hide her feet, and they ran to and fro, one in 
one direction and the other in the other, she jerking her 
unmanageable steed, and he singing songs, and all to the 
music of the drum and the cymbals. 

It sometimes happens that while the girl rides the horse, 
the boy goes beside her in the boat, the rapidity and char- 
acter of their movements being governed by the music of 
the manager. 

The best part of the whole performance was that which 
goes by the name of the lion show. The girl took off her 
small feet and girl's clothes and became a boy again. One 
of the boys stood up in front and put on an apron of woven 
grass, while the other bent forward and clutched hold of 
his belt. A large papier mdche head of a lion was put on 
the front boy, to which was attached a covering of woven 
grass large enough to cover them both, while a long tail of 
the same material was stuck into a framework fastened to 
the belt of the hinder boy. 

The manager beat the drum, the lion stalked about the 
court, keeping step to the music, turning its large head in 
every direction and opening and shutting its mouth, much 
to the amusement of the children. 

143 



THE CHINESE BOY AND GIRL 




There is probably no country in the world that has more 
travelling shows specially prepared for the entertainment 
of children than China. Scarcely a day passes that we do 
not hear the drum or the gong of the showmen going to 
and fro, or standing at our court gate waiting to be called in. 






144 



^'Sr 




JUVENILE JUGGLING 



"How is that?" 

" Very good." 

"Can you doit?" asked the sleight-of-hand performer, 
as he rolled a little red ball between his finger and thumb, 
pitched it up, caught it as it came down, half closed his 
hand and blew into it, opened his hand and the ball had 
disappeared. 

. He picked up another ball, tossed it up, caught it in his 
mouth, dropped it into his hand, and it mysteriously dis- 
appeared. 

The juggler was seated on the ground with a piece of 
blue cloth spread out before him, on which were three cups, 
and five little red wax balls nearly as large as cranberries. 

He continued to toss the wax balls about until they had 

147 




THE CHINESE BOY AND GIRL 



all disappeared. We watched him closely, but could not 
discover where they had gone. He then arose, took a small 
portion of my coat sleeve between his thumb and finger, 
began rubbing them together, and by and by, one of the 

balls appeared 
between his 
digits. He 
picked at a 
small boy's ear 
and got another 
of the balls. 
He blew his 
nose and an- 
other dropped 
upon the cloth. 
He slapped 
the top of his 
head and one 
dropped out of 
his mouth, and 
he took the fifth 
from a boy's 
hair. 

He then changed his method. He placed the cups' mouths 
down upon the cloth, and under one of them put the five 
little balls. When he placed the cup we watched carefully; 
there were no balls under it. When he raised it up, behold, 
there were the five little balls. 

He removed the cups from one place to another, and 

148 




,.*> 3* 



.^3* 



JUVENILE JUGGLING 

asked us to guess which cup the balls were under, but we 
were always wrong. 

There was a large company of us, ranging from children 
of three to old men and women of seventy-five, and from 
Chinese schoolboys to a bishop of the church, but none of 
us could discover how he did it. 

Later, however, I learned how the trick was performed. 
As he raised the cup with his thumb and forefinger, he 
inserted two other fingers under, gathered up all the balls 
between them and placed them under the cup as he put it 
down. While in making the balls disappear, he concealed 
them either in his mouth or between his fingers. 

The Chinese have a saying: 

In selecting his balls from north to south, 
The magician cannot leave his mouth; 
And in rolling his balls, you understand, 
He must have them hidden in his hand. 

Of quite a different character are the jugglers with plates 
and bowls. Not only children, but many of a larger growth 
delight to watch these. Our only way of learning about 
them was to call them into our court as the Chinese call 
them to theirs, and that is what we did. 

The performer first put a plate on the top of a trident and 
set it whirling. In this whirling condition he put the trident 
on his forehead where he balanced it, the trident whirling 
with the plate as though boring into his skull. 

He next took a bamboo pole six feet long, with a nail in 
the end on which he set the plate whirling. The plate, of 

149 



THE CHINESE BOY AND GIRL 






course, had a small indentation to keep it in its place on the 
nail. He raised the plate in the air and inserted into the 
first pole another of equal length, then another and still 
another, which put the plate whirling in the air thirty feet 
high. 

Thus whirling he 
balanced it on his hand, 
on his arm, on his 
thumb, on his fore- 
head, and finally in his 
mouth, after which he 
tossed the plate up, 
threw the pole aside, 
and caught it as it came 
down. The old man- 
ager standing by re- 
ceived the pole, but as 
he saw the plate tossed 
up, he fell flat upon the 
earth, screaming lest 
the plate be broken. 

This same performer 
set a bowl whirling on 
the end of a chop-stick. 
Then tossing the bowl 
up he caught it inverted 
on the chop-stick, and 
made it whirl as rapidly 
as possible. In this 




150 



JUVENILE JUGGLING 




condition he tossed it up ten, then fifteen, then twenty or 
more feet into the air catching it on the chop-stick as it 
came down. 

He then changed the process. He tossed the bowl a foot 
high, and struck it with the other chop-stick one, two, three, 
four or five times before it came down, and this he did so 
rapidly and regularly as to make it sound almost like 
music. There is a record of one of the ancient poets who 
was able to play a tune with his bowl and chop-sticks 
after having finished his meal. He may have done it in 
this way. 

This trick seemed a very difficult performance. It excited 
the children, and some of the older persons clapped their 
hands and exclaimed, " Very good, very good." But when 
he tossed it only a foot high and let go the chop-stick, mak- 
ing it change ends, and catching the bowl, they were ready 
for a general applause. In striking the bowl and thus ma- 
nipulating his chop-sticks, his hands moved almost as 
rapidly as those of an expert pianist. •■ 

" Can you toss the knives ? "piped up one of the children 
who had seen a juggler perform this difficult feat. 

The man picked up two large knives about a foot long 
and began tossing them with one hand. While this was 
going on a third knife was handed him and he kept them 
going with both hands. At times he threw them under his 
leg or behind his back, and at other times pitched them up 
twenty feet high, whirling them as rapidly as possible and 
catching them by the handles as they came down. 

While doing this he passed one of the knives to the at- 

151 






THE CHINESE BOY AND GIRL 



tendant who gave him a bowl, and he kept the bowl and 
two knives going. Then he gave the attendant another 
knife and received a ball, and the knife, the ball and the 
bowl together, the ball and bowl at times moving as though 
the former were glued to the bottom of the latter. 

These were not all the tricks, he could perform but they 
were all he would perform in addition to his bear show for 
twelve cents — for this was the man with the bear — so the 
children allowed him to go. 

Some weeks later they 
called in a different bear 
show. This bear was 
larger and a better per- 
former, but his tricks 
were about the same. 

The juggler in addition 
to doing all we have 
already described per- 
formed also the follow- 
ing tricks. 

He first put one end 
of an iron rod fifteen 
inches long in his mouth. 
On this he placed a small 
revolving frame three by 
six inches. He set a 
bowl whirling on the 
end of a bamboo splint 
fifteen inches long, the 

152 




JUVENILE JUGGLING 

other end of which he rested on one side of the frame, 
balancing the whole in his mouth. 

While the bowl continued whirling, he took the frame off 
the rod, stuck the bamboo in a hole in the frame an inch 
from the end, resting the other end of the frame on the rod, 
brought the bowl over so as to obtain a centre of gravity 
and thus balanced it. 

He took two small tridents a foot or more in length, put 
the end of the handle of one in his mouth, set the bowl 
whirling on the end of the handle of the other, rested the 
middle prong of one on the middle prong of the other and 
let it whirl with the bowl. Afterwards he set the prong of 
the whirling trident on the edge of the other and let it 
whirl. 

He took two long curved boar's teeth which were fast- 
ened on the ends of two sticks, one a foot long the other six 
inches. The one he held in his mouth, the other having a hole 
diagonally through the stick, he inserted a chop-stick making 
an angle of seventy degrees. He set the bowl whirling 
on the end of the chop-stick, rested one tooth on the other, 
in the indentation and they whirled like a brace and bit. 

Finally he took a spiral wire having a straight point on 
each end. This he called a dead dragon. He set the bowl 
whirling on one end, placing the other on the small frame 
already referred to. As the spiral wire began to turn as 
though boring, he called it a living dragon. These feats of 
balancing excited much wonder and merriment on the part 
of the children. 

The juggler then took an iron trident with a handle four 

153 



THE CHINESE BOY AND GIRL 



^■■r\ 



and a half feet long 
and an inch and a 
half thick, and, 
pitching it up into 
the air, caught it on 
his right arm as it 
came down. He 
allowed it to roll 
down his right 
arm, across his 
back, and along his 
left arm, and as he 
turned his body he 
kept the trident 
rolling around 
crossing his back 
and breast and giv- 
ing it a new im- 
petus with each 
arm. The trident 

had on it two cymbal-shaped iron plates which kept up a 

constant rattling. 

This showman had with him three boy acrobats whose 

skill he proceeded to show. 
" Pitch the balls," he said. 
The largest of the three boys fastened a cushioned band, 

on which was a leather cup, around his head, the cup being 

on his forehead just between his eyes. 

He took two wooden balls, two and a half inches in 

154 




fewm w 










JUVENILE JUGGLING 



diameter, tossed them in the air twenty feet high, catching 
them in the cup as they came down. The shape of the 
cup was such as to hold the balls by suction when they 
fell. He never once missed. This is the most dangerous 

looking of all 
the tricks I have 
seen jugglers 
perform. 

"Shooting 
stars," said the 
showman. 

The boy 
tossed aside his 
cup and balls 
and took a 
string six feet 
long, on the 
two ends of 
which were 
fastened wood- 
en balls two 
and a half 
inches in diam- 
eter. He set 
the balls whirl- 
ing in opposite 
directions until 
they moved so 
rapidly as to 

155 





THE CHINESE BOY AND GIRL 

stretch the string, which he then held in the middle with 
finger and thumb and by a simple motion of the hand kept 
the balls whirling. 

He was an expert, and changed the swinging of the balls 
in as many different ways as an expert club-swinger could 
his clubs. 

"Boy acrobats," called out the manager, as the manipu- 
lator of the "shooting stars" bowed himself out amid the 
applause of the children. 

The two smaller boys threw off their coats, hitched up 
their trousers — always a part of the performance whether 
necessary or not — and began the high kick, high jump, 
handspring, somersault, wagon wheel, ending with hand- 
spring, and bending backwards until their heads touched 
the ground. 

One of them stood on two benches a foot high, put a 
handkerchief on the ground, and bending backwards, picked 
it up with his teeth. 

The two boys then clasped each other around the waist, 
as in the illustration, and each threw the other back over his 
head a dozen times or more. 

Exit the bear show with the boy acrobats, enter the old 
woman juggler with her husband who beats the gong. 

This was one of the most interesting performances I have 
ever seen in China, perhaps because so unexpected. 

The old woman had small, bound feet. She lay flat on her 
back, stuck up her feet, and her husband put a crock a foot 
in diameter and a foot and a half deep upon them. She set 
it rolling on her feet until it whirled like a cylinder. She 



156 







JUVENILE JUGGLING 




tossed it up in such a way as to have it light bottom side up 
on her " lillies," 1 in which position she kept it whirling. 
Tossing it once more it came down on the side, and again 
tossing it she caught it right side up on her small feet, 
keeping it whirling all the time. 

My surprise was so great that I gave the old woman ten 
cents for performing this single trick. 

The tricks of sleight-of-hand performers are well-nigh 
without number. Some of them are easily understood, — 
surprising, however, to children — and often interesting to 
grown people, while others are very clever and not so easily 
understood. 

Instead of the hat from which innumerable small packages 
are taken, the Chinese magician had two hollow cylinders, 
which exactly fit into each other, that he took out of a box 

1 Small feet of the Chinese woman. 
157 



THE CHINESE BOY AND GIRL 




and placed upon a cylindrical chest, and from these two 
cylinders — each of which he repeatedly showed us as being 
without top or bottom and empty — he took a dinner of 
a dozen courses. 

He called upon the baker to bring bread, the grocer to 
bring vegetables, and after each call he took out of the 
cylinders the thing called for. He finally called the wine 
shop to bring wine, and removing both cylinders, he ex- 
posed to the surprised children a large crock of wine. 

As he brought out dish after dish, the children looked in 
open-mouthed wonder, and asked papa, mama or nurse, 
where he got them all, for they evidently were not in the 
cylinders. But papa saw him all the time manipulating the 
crock in the cylinder which he did not show, and he knew 
that all these things were taken from and then returned to 
this crock, while instead of being full of wine, he had only 

158 




J U V E N I l}M J U G G LI N G 

a cup of wine in a false lid which exactly fitted the mouth 
of the crock, and made it seem full. 

When he had put away his crock and cylinders, he pro- 
duced what seemed to be two empty cups. 

He presented them to us to show that they were empty, 
then putting them mouth to mouth, and placing them on 
the ground, he left them a moment, when with a "presto 
change," and a wave of the hand, he removed the top cup 
and revealed to the astonished children and some of the 
children of a larger growth, a cup full of water with two or 
three little fish or frogs therein. 

On inquiry I was told that he had the under cup covered 
with a thin film of water-colored material, and that as he 
removed the top cup he removed also the film which left the 
fish or frogs exposed to view. 

This same juggler performed many tricks of producing 
great dishes of water from under his garments, the mere 
enumeration of which, might prove to be tiresome. 

I was walking along the street one day near the mouth of 
Filial Piety Lane where a large company of men and chil- 
dren were watching a juggler, and from the trick I thought 
it worth while to invite him in for the amusement of the 
children. He promised to come about four o'clock, which 
he did. 

He first proceeded to eat a hat full of yellow paper, after 
which, with a gag and a little puff, he pulled from his mouth 
a tube of paper of the same color five or six yards long. 

This was very skillfully performed and for a long time I 
was not able to understand how he did it. But after awhile 

159 



M 



THE CHINESE BOY AND GIRL 

I discovered that with the last mouthful of paper he put in a 
small roll, the centre of which he started by puffing, and 
this he pulled out in a long tube. He did it with so many 
groanings and with such pain in the region of the stomach, 
that attention was directed either to his stomach or the roll, 
and taken away from his mouth. 

"I shall eat these needles," said he, as he held up half a 
dozen needles, "and then eat this thread, after which I shall 
reproduce them." 

He did so. He grated his teeth together causing a sound 
much like that of breaking needles. He pretended to swal- 
low them, working his tongue back and forth in his tightly 
closed mouth, after which he drew forth the thread on 
which all the needles were strung. 

He had a number of small white bone needles which he 
stuck into his nose and pulled out of his eyes, or which he 
pushed up under his upper lip and took out of his eyes or 
vice versa. How he performed the above trick I was not 
able to discover. He seemed to put them through the tear 
duct, but whether he did or not I cannot say. How he got 
them from his mouth to his eyes unless he had punctured a 
passage beneath the skin, is still to me a mystery. 

His last trick was to swallow a sword fifteen inches long. 
The sword was straight with a round point and dull edges. 
There was no deception about this. He was an old man 
and his front, upper teeth were badly worn away by the 
constant rasping of the not over-smooth sword. He simply 
put it in his mouth, threw back his head and stuck it down 
his throat to his stomach. 

160 




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STORIES TOLD TO CHILDREN 

One hot summer afternoon as I lay in the hammock trying 
to take a nap after a hard forenoon's work and a hearty 
lunch, I heard the same old nurse who had told me my first 
Chinese Mother Goose Rhymes, telling the following story 
to the same little boy to whom she had repeated the " Mouse 
and the Candlestick." 

She told him that the Chinese call the Milky Way the 
Heavenly River, and that the Spinning Girl referred to in the 
story is none other than the beautiful big star in Lyra which 
we call Vega, while the Cow-herd is Altair in Aquila. 

The Heavenly River, with the People who Dwell 

Thereon. 
Once upon a time there dwelt a beautiful maiden in a 
quiet little village on the shore of the Heavenly River. 

163 



THE CHINESE BOY AND GIRL 

Her name was Vega, but the people of China have always 
called her the Spinning Maiden, because of her faithfulness 
to her work, for though days, and months, and years passed 
away, she never left her loom. 

Her diligence so moved the heart of her grandfather, the 
King of Heaven, that he determined to give her a vacation, 
which she at once decided to spend upon the earth. 

In a village near where the maiden dwelt there was a 
young man named Altair, whom the Chinese call the Cow- 
herd. 

Now the Cow-herd was in love with the Spinning Girl, but 
she was always so intent upon her work as never to give 
him an opportunity to confess his affection, but now he de- 
termined to follow her to earth, and, if possible, win her for 
his bride. 

He followed her through the green fields and shady 
groves, but never dared approach her or tell her of his love. 

At last, however, the time came. He discovered her 
bathing in a limpid stream, the banks of which were car- 
peted with flowers, while myriad boughs of blossoming 
peach and cherry trees hid her from all the world but him. 

He secretly crept near and stole away and hid her gar- 
ments made of silken gauze and finely woven linen, making 
it alike impossible for her to resist his suit or to return to her 
celestial home. 

She yielded to the Cow-herd and soon became his wife, 
and as the years passed by a boy and girl were born to them, 
little star children, twins, such as are seen near by the Spin- 
ning Girl in her heavenly home to-day. 

164 



■ 






STORIES TOLD TO CHILDREN 



One day she went to her husband, and, bowing low, re- 
quested that he return the clothes he had hid away, and he, 
thinking the presence of the children a sufficient guaranty 
for her remaining in his home, told her he had put them in an 
old, dry well hard by the place where she had been bathing. 

No sooner had she secured them than the aspect of their 
home was changed. The Cow-herd's wife once more be- 
came the Spinning Girl and hied her to her heavenly abode. 

It so happened that her husband had a piece of cow-skin 
which gave him power over earth and air. Snatching up 
this, with his ox-goad, he followed in the footsteps of his 
fleeing wife. 

Arriving at their heavenly home the happy couple sought 
the joys of married life. The Spinning Girl gave up her loom, 
and the Cow-herd his cattle, until their negligence annoyed 
the King of Heaven, and he repented having let her leave 
her loom. He called upon the Western Royal Mother for 
advice. After consultation they decided that the two should 
be separated. The Queen, with a single stroke of her great 
silver hairpin, drew a line across the heavens, and from 
that time the Heavenly River has flowed between them, and 
they are destined to dwell forever on the two sides of the 
Milky Way. 

What had seemed to the youthful pair the promise of per- 
petual joy, became a condition of unending grief. They 
were on the two sides of a bridgeless river, in plain sight of 
each other, but forever debarred from hearing the voice or 
pressing the land of the one beloved, doomed to perpetual 
toil unlit by any ray of joy or hope. 

165 



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THE CHINESE BOY AND GIRL 

Their evident affection and unhappy condition moved the 
heart of His Majesty, and caused him to allow them to visit 
each other once with each revolving year, — on the seventh 
day of the seventh moon. But permission was not enough, 
for as they looked upon the foaming waters of the turbulent 
stream, they could but weep for their wretched condition, 
for no bridge united its two banks, nor was it allowed that 
any structure be built which would mar the contour of the 
shining dome. 

In their helplessness the magpies came to their rescue. At 
early morn on the seventh day of the seventh moon, these 
beautiful birds gathered in great flocks about the home of 
the maiden, and hovering wing to wing above the river, 
made a bridge across which her dainty feet might carry her 
in safety. But when the time for separation came, the two 
wept bitterly, and their tears falling in copious showers are 
the cause of the heavy rains which fall at that season of the 
year. 

From time immemorial it has been known that the Yellow 
River is neither more nor less than a prolongation of the 
Milky Way, soiled by earthly contact and contamination, and 
that the homes of the Spinning Maiden and the Cow-herd 
are the centres of two of the numerous villages that adorn 
its banks. It is not to be wondered at, however, that in an 
evil and skeptical world there should be many who doubt 
these facts. 

On this account, and to forever settle the dispute, the 
great traveller and explorer, Chang Ch'ien, undertook to dis- 
cover the source of the Yellow River. He first transformed 

166 



STORIES TOLD TO CHILDREN 




4 



the trunk of a great 
tree into a boat, 
provided himself 
with the necessities 
of life and started 
on his journey. 

Days passed into 
weeks, and weeks 
became months as 
he sailed up the 
murky waters of 
the turbid stream. 
But the farther he 
went the clearer 
the waters became 
until it seemed as if 
they were flowing 
over a bed of pure, 
white limestone. Village after village was passed both on 
his right hand and on his left, and many were the strange 
sights that met his gaze. The fields became more verdant, 
the flowers more beautiful, the scenery more gorgeous, and 
the people more like nymphs and fairies. The color of the 
clouds and the atmosphere was of a richer, softer hue; while 
the breezes which wafted his frail bark were milder and 
gentler than any he had known before. 

Despairing at last of reaching the source he stopped at a 
village where he saw a maiden spinning and a young man 
leading an ox to drink. He alighted from his boat and in- 

167 



THE CHINESE BOY AND GIRL 

quired of the girl the name of the place, but she, without 
making reply, tossed him her shuttle, telling him to return 
to his home and inquire of the astrologer, who would inform 
him where he received it, if he but told him when. 

He returned and presented the shuttle to the noted as- 
trologer Chun Ping, informing him at the same time where, 
when and from whom he had received it. The latter con- 
sulted his observations and calculations and discovered that 
on the day and hour when the shuttle had been given to 
the traveller he had observed a wandering star enter and 
leave the villages of the Spinning Girl and the Cow-herd, 
which proved beyond doubt that the Yellow River is the 
prolongation of the Milky Way, while the points of light 
which we call stars, are the inhabitants of Heaven pursuing 
callings similar to our own. 

Chang Ch'ien made another important discovery, namely, 
that the celestials, understanding the seasons better than 
we, turn the shining dome in such a way as to make the 
Heavenly River indicate the seasons of the year, and so the 
children sing: 

Whene'er the Milky Way you spy, 
Diagonal across the sky, 
The egg-plant you may safely eat, 
And all your friends to melons treat. 

But when divided towards the west, 
You'll need your trousers and your vest, 
When like a horn you see it float, 
You'll need your trousers and your coat. 
168 



STORIES TOLD TO CHILDREN 



It is unnecessary to state that I did not go to sleep while 
the old nurse was telling the story of the Heavenly River. 
The child sat on his little stool, his elbows on his knees 
and his chin resting in his hands, listening with open lips 
and eyes sparkling with interest. To the old nurse it was 
real. The spinning girl and the cow-herd were living per- 
sons. The flowers bloomed, — we could almost smell their 
odor P — and the gentle breezes seemed to fan our cheeks. 
She had told the story so often that she believed it, and she 
imparted to us her own interest. 

"Nurse," said the child, "tell me about 

"'The Man in the Moon.'" 

"The man in the moon," said the old nurse, "is called 
Wu Rang. He was skilled in all the arts of the genii, and 
was accustomed to play before them whenever opportu- 
nity offered or occasion required. 

"Once it turned out that his performances were displeas- 
ing to the spirits, and for this offense he was banished 
to the moon, and condemned to perpetual toil in hewing 
down the cinnamon trees which grow there in great abund- 
ance. At every blow of the axe he made an incision, but 
only to see it close up when the axe was withdrawn. 

"He had another duty,, however, a duty which was at 
times irksome, but one which on the whole was more 
pleasant than any that falls to men or spirits, — the duty 
indicated by the proverb that ' matches are made in the 
moon.' 

"It was his lot to bind together the feet of all those on 

169 




r!TLs 



THE CHINESE BOY AND GIRL 

earth who are destined to a betrothal, and in the perform- 
ance of this duty, he was often compelled to return to 
earth. When doing so he came as an old man with long 
white hair and beard, with a book in his hand in which he 
had written the matrimonial alliances of all mankind. He 
also carried a wallet which contains a ball of invisible cord 
with which he ties together the feet of all those who are 
destined to be man and wife, and the destinies which he 
announces it is impossible to avoid. 

"On one occasion he came to the town of Sung, and 
while sitting in the moonlight, turning over the leaves of 
his book of destinies, he was asked by Wei Ku, who hap- 
pened to be passing, who was destined to become his 
bride. The old man consulted his records, as he answered: 
' Your wife is the daughter of an old woman named Ch'en 
who sells vegetables in yonder shop.' 

"Having heard this, Wei Ku went the next day to look 
about him and if possible to get a glimpse of the one to 
whom the old man referred, but he discovered that the 
only child the old woman had was an ill-favored one of 
two years which she carried in her arms. He hired an 
assassin to murder the infant, but the blow was badly 
aimed and left only a scar on the child's eyebrow. 

"Fourteen years afterwards, Wei Ku married a beautiful 
maiden of sixteen whose only defect was a scar above the 
eye, and on inquiries he discovered that she was the one 
foretold by the Old Man of the Moon, and he recalled the 
proverb that ' Matches are made in heaven, and the bond of 
fate is sealed in the moon.' " 

170 



STORIES TOLD TO CHILDREN 

"Nurse, tell me about the land of the big people," where- 
upon the nurse told him of 

The Land of Giants. 

" There was in ancient times a country east of Korea which 
was called the land of the giants. It was celebrated for its 
length rather than for its width, being bounded on all sides 
by great mountain ranges, the like of which cannot be found 
in other countries. It extends for thousands of miles along 
the deep passes between the mountains, at the entrance to 
which there are great iron gates, easily closed, but very 
difficult to open. 

"Many armies have made war upon the giants, among 
which none have been more celebrated than those of Korea, 
which embraces in its standing army alone many thousands 
of men, but thus far they have never been conquered. 

" Nor is this to be wondered at, for besides their great iron 
gates, and numerous fortifications, the men are thirty feet 
tall according to our measurement, have teeth like a saw, 
hooked claws, and bodies covered with long black hair. 

"They live upon the flesh of fowls and wild beasts, which 
are found in abundance in the mountain fastnesses, but they 
do not cook their food. They are very fond of human 
flesh, but they confine themselves to the flesh of enemies 
slain in battle, and do not eat the flesh of their own people, 
even though they be hostile, as this is contrary to the law 
of the land. 

" Their women are as large and fierce as the men, but their 
duties are confined to the preparation of extra clothing for 

171 






THE CHINESE BOY AND GIRL 

winter wear, for although they are covered with hair it is 
insufficient to protect them from the winter's cold." 

While the old nurse was relating the tale of the giants I 
could not but wonder whether there was not some relation 
between that and the Brobdingnagians I had read about in 
my youth. But I was not given much time to think. This 
seemed to have been a story day, for the nurse had hardly 
finished the tale till the child said: 

"Now tell me about the country of the little people," 
and she related the story of 

The Land of Dwarfs. 

" The country of the little people is in the west, where 
the sun goes down. 

"Once upon a time a company of Persian merchants were 
making a journey, when by a strange mishap they lost their 
way and came to the land of the little people. They were 
at first surprised, and then delighted, for they discovered 
that the country was not only densely populated with these 
little people, who were not more than three feet high, but 
that it was rich in all kinds of precious stones and rare and 
valuable materials. 

"They discovered also that during the season of planting 
and harvesting, they were in constant terror lest the great 
multitude of cranes, which are without number in that 
region, should swoop down upon them and eat both them 
and their crops. They soon learned, however, that the little 
people were under the protecting care of the Roman Empire, 
whose interest in them was great, and her arm mighty, and 

172 



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STORIES TOLD TO CHILDREN 



they were thus guarded from all evil influences as well as 
from all danger. Nor was this a wholly unselfish interest 
on the part of the Roman power, for the little people 
repaid her with rich presents of the most costly gems, — 
pearls, diamonds, rubies and other precious stones." 

I need not say I was beginning to be surprised at the 
number of tales the old woman told which corresponded 
to those I had been accustomed to read and hear in my 
childhood, nor was my surprise lessened when at his request 
she told him how 

The Sun Went Backward. 

" Once upon a time Lu Yang-kung was engaged in battle 
with Han Kou-nan, and they continued fighting until nearly 
sundown. The former was getting the better of the battle, 
but feared he would lose it unless they fought to a finish 
before the close of day. The sun was near the horizon, and 
the battle was not yet ended, and the former, pointing his 
lance at the King of Day caused him to move backward ten 
miles in his course." 

"When did that happen ? " inquired the child. 

"The Chinese say it happened about three thousand years 
ago," replied the old nurse. 

" Now tell me about the man who went to the fire star." 

The old woman hesitated a moment as though she was 
trying to recall something and then told him the story of 

Mars, the God of War. 

"Once upon a time there was a great rebel whose name 
was Ch'ih Yu. He was the first great rebel that ever lived 

173 




iw 







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THE CHINESE BOY AND GIRL 

in China. He did not want to obey the chief ruler, and 
invented for himself warlike weapons, thinking that in this 
way he might overthrow the government and place himself 
upon the throne. 

" He had eighty-one brothers, of whom he was the leader. 
They had human speech, but bodies of beasts, foreheads of 
iron, and fed upon the dust of the earth. 

" When the time for the battle came, he called upon the 
Chief of the Wind and the Master of the Rain to assist him, 
and there arose a great tempest. But the Chief sent the 
Daughter of Heaven to quell the storm, and then seized and 
slew the rebel. His spirit ascended to the Fire-Star (Mars) 
-the embodiment of which he was while upon earth, — 
,/here it resides and influences the conduct of warfare even 
to the present time." 

"Tell me the story of the man who went to the moun- 
tain to gather fire-wood and did not come home for such a 
long time." 

The old nurse began a story which as it progressed re- 
minded me of 

Rip Van Winkle. 

" A long time ago there lived a man named Wang Chih, 
which in our language means 'the stuff of which kings 
are made.' In spite of his name, however, he was only a 
common husbandman, spending his summers in plowing, 
planting and harvesting, and his winters in gathering fertil- 
izers upon the highways, and fire-wood in the mountains. 

" On one occasion he wandered into the mountains of 

174 



m N'4 



STORIES TOLD TO CHILDREN 

Ch'ii Chou, his axe upon his shoulder, hoping to find more 
and better fire-wood than could be found upon his own 
scanty acres, or the adjoining plain. While in the moun- 
tains he came upon a number of aged men, in a beautiful 
mountain grotto, intently engaged in a game of chess. 
Wang was a good chess-player himself, and for the time 
forgot his errand. He laid down his axe, stood silently 
watching them, and in a very few moments was deeply 
interested in the game. 

"It was while he was thus watching them that one of 
the old men, without looking up from the game, gave him 
what seemed to be a date seed, telling him. at the same time 
to put it in his mouth. He did so, but no sooner had he 
tasted it, than he lost all consciousness of hunger and thirst, *» 
and continued to stand watching the players and the prog- 
ress of the game, thinking nothing of the flight of time. 

" At last one of the old men said to him : 

" ' You have been here a long time, ought you not to go 
home?' 

"This aroused him from his reverie, and he seemed to 
awake as from a dream, his interest in the game passed 
away, and he attempted to pick up his axe, but found that 
it was covered with rust and the handle had moulded away. 
But while this called his attention to the fact that time had 
passed, he felt not the burden of years. 

"When he returned to the plain, and to what had for- 
merly been his home, he discovered that not only years but 
centuries had passed away since he had left for the moun- 
tains, and that his relatives and friends had all crossed to 

175 




THE CHINESE BOY AND GIRL 



the 'Yellow Springs,' while all records of his departure had 
long since been forgotten, and he alone remained a relic of 
the past. 

"He wandered up and down inquiring of the oldest 
people of all the villages, but could discover no link which 
bound him to the present. 

" He returned to the mountain grotto, devoted himself to 
the study of the occult principles of the ' Old Philosopher ' 
until the material elements of his mortal frame were gradu- 
ally evaporated or sublimated, and without having passed 
through the change which men call death, he became an 
immortal spirit returning whence he came." 

Just as the old woman finished this story, my teacher, 
who always took a nap after lunch, ascended the steps. 

" Ah, the story of Wang Chih." 

"Do you know any of these stories?" I asked him as I 
sat down beside him. 

"All children learn these stories in their youth," he an- 
swered, and then as if fearing I would try to induce him to 
tell them to me he continued, "but nurses always tell these 
stories better than any one else, because they tell them so 
often to the children, for whom alone they were made." 



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